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THE 



PLANTER'S GUIDE 

A PRACTICAL ESSAY 
ON THE BEST METHOD OF GIVING IMMEDIATE EFFECT 
TO WOOD BY THE TRANSPLANTING OF LARGE 
TREES AND UNDERWOOD. 

BY 

' SIR HENRY STEUART, Bart. 

LL.D. F.R.S.E. &c. 

Imitetur ars natiiram, et quod ea desiderat inveniat, 
quod ostendit sequatur. Cic. ad Herenn. iii. 



THIRD EDITION. 

WITH MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR, AND HIS LAST ADDITIONS AND 
IMPROVEMENTS. 



WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, 
EDINBURGH AND LONDON, 
J^.DCCC.XLVIII. 



PRrNTED BV WIJ.MAN BLACKAVOOD AND SONS, EDINBURfiH. 




TO 

HER MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY, 

THE QUEEN, 

WHOSE REIGN HAS BEEN NOT MORE ILLUSTRIOUS FOR NATIONAL PROSPERITY, 

FOR THOSE PUBLIC VIRTUES WHICH ADORN THE SOVEREIGN, 
AND FOR THE MORAL QUALITIES WHICH GRACE AND DIGNIFY DOMESTIC LIFE, 
THAN FOR THE EXHIBITION OF THOSE TASTES WHICH RECEIVE 
THEIR HIGHEST GRATIFICATION FROM THE 
BEAUTIES OF NATURAL LANDSCAPE^ 
THIS TREATISE, 
BY THE LATE SIR H^NRY STEUART, 

DESIGNED TO ILLUSTRATE 

"THE ART OF CREATING REAL LANDSCAPE," 

BY AN APPLICATION OF 
THE PRINCIPLES OF PHYSIOLOGY TO GENERAL AND PRACTICAL ARBORICULTURE, 
IS BY ROYAL PERMISSION, WITH PROFOUNDEST RESPECT, 
INSCRIBED, 
JGHTER, AN 
MOST FAITHFUL SUBJECT, 

ELIZABETH SETON STEUART, 

HEK majesty's HERBDITARV ARMOUR-BEARER 
FOR SCOTLAND. 



PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. 



As the former editions of the Planter s Guide 
are now out of print, and copies of the work 
have frequently been called for, a new and 
greatly improved edition has been accordingly 
prepared, containing three additional sections, 
accompanied with notes, on the nature and 
cultivation of British forest trees, which had 
been drawn up by Sir Henry Steuart previous 
to his death, with a view to a third edition. 
Such as these MSS. emanated from the hands 
of the Author of the original work, with his 
final corrections, they are now appended to this 
edition, and form the 12th, 13th, and 14th 
sections, with their corresponding notes in the 
appendix. 

The title of the work has been slightly 
altered, with the view of not encumbering 
the title-page with unnecessary matter. The 
original title describes the Planter s Guide to 
be " an attempt to place the art, and that of 
general arboriculture, on phytological and fixed 
principles ; interspersed with observations on 
general planting, and the improvement of real 



viii 



PEEFACE. 



landscape, originally intended for the climate 
of Scotland." The present title sufficiently 
describes the object of the Treatise, and is 
more nearly assimilated, as we learn from Sir 
Henry's correspondence, to what the Author 
originally designed. It has been deemed pro- 
per, however, to insert the full title in this 
prefatory notice. 

A short Memoir has further been drawn up, 
and an engraving of the Author, lately taken 
from an admirable painting by Sir Henry Rae- 
burn at AUanton, has also been prefixed to this 
work. Upon the whole, it is hoped that, as 
every effort has been made to render this 
edition as complete as possible, it will secure 
the same approbation and success which have 
attended those by which it was preceded. 

R. 

Note. — In proof of the success which has attended Sir 
Henry's system of transplanting, it may be proper to state, 
that all the forest trees, of which we may specify the Oak, 
Lime, Elm, and Ash, which have been transplanted about 
a quarter of a century in the park at Allanton, are now 
sending forth vigorous shoots from twelve to eighteen 
inches yearly, as measured in March 1848, and the stems 
are increasing proportionably. These trees exhibit not 
only every symptom of health, but are yearly improving 
in vigour and growth. 



CONTENTS. 



Page 

MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR, ----- i 
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION, _ - - - XXxix 

PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION, - - - - xlili 

SECTION I. 

UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE OF ARBORICULTURE. ART OF GIVING IMMEDIATE 
EFFECT TO WOOD. 

Planting extensively practised, but not scientifically studied in 
Scotland. — Importance of a society exclusively for the improve- 
ment of arboriculture. — Origin of landscape gardening in Eng- 
land. Kent, Brown, Price. Power of obtaining the immediate 
command of wood a desideratum in that art. — Partiality to 
wood strong and universal. Vast power of the transplanting 
machine. Effects produced by it at Allanton House. — Great 
utility of applying physiological principles to general planting. 
— Inspection by the Highland Society. — Real landscape created 
in the park at Allanton, between 1816 and 1821. View in the 
park there, plate I. — The art established on fixed principles. 1-15 

SECTION II. 

history of THE ART, FROM THE EARLIEST DOWN TO THE PRESENT TIMES. 

Wood attentively cultivated by the Ancients. Theophrastus, Cato, 
Varro, Columella. — Landscape painting unknown till the age 
of Augustus. The removal of large trees generally practised at 
Rome. Pliny, the younger Seneca. — Comparison between the 
Greek and Roman methods. — Revival of the art in Europe, in 
the l7th century. Surprising achievement of Count Maurice of 
Nassau. His splendid gardens in Brazil. — Efforts of the Germans 
and French. Gigantic operations of Louis XIV, — The art cul- 

a 



ii 



CONTENTS. 



tivated in England. Evelyn — Wise. Important improvement 
by Lord Fitzharding. Idea of the practice of that period. — 
Brown invents the transplanting machine. Cursory account of 
his method. Landscape gardening first introduced into Scotland. 
Its progress in that country, and in Ireland. White, Robertson, 
Hayes. — Ingenious system of Boutcher of Edinburgh. — 
Marshall the best English planter of that day. His superior 
method of removing trees. — Strictures of Miller, on the lightening 
and lopping practice. — Low state of the art of removing trees in 
England. Mason, Pontey, Forsyth. No improvement down to 
the present period. — Splendid horiticultural achievement of Dr 
Graham of Edinburgh. — Progress of landscape gardening on the 
Continent of Europe, in France, Germany, Poland, Russia. 
Striking contrast between French and English tastes. — Superior 
intelligence of the Polish nobility. Frederick II., Stanislaus, 
Czar Peter. — The art in all countries vague and uncertain, and 
without a foundation in fixed principles. - - - 15-55 

SECTION IIL 

ATTEMPT TO SUGGEST A NEW THEORY, OR PRINCIPLE OF THE ART. 

Superior merit of Miller as a phytologist. His disapprobation of 
the practice of transplanting trees, young or old. — Objections to 
the.removal of large trees stated and answered. — Attempt to dis- 
cover a new theory of the art. Deduced from the laws that re- 
gulate organic creation. — Striking analogy between the animal 
and vegetable kingdoms. — Enunciation of the proposition. — 
Characteristic distinctions between sheltered and exposed trees. 
Young trees and old impossible to be removed on similar princi- 
ples. — Surprising effects of shelter and exposure. The law of 
nature on this subject. The protecting and non-protecting pro- 
perties. — General conclusions respecting the new theory. — 111 
success of general planting, owing to a want of the knowledge of 
scientific principles. _ - - - 56-76 

SECTION IV. 

DEVELOPMENT AND ILLUSTRATION OF THE NEW THEORY OR PRINCIPLE. 

Universal influence of exposure and shelter. History and progress 
of experiments to demonstrate this. — Importance of the study 



CONTENTS. 



iii 



of vegetable physiology. Rank and precedency of tlie four pro- 
tecting properties. — I. Thickness and induration of bark. 
Idea of the double course of the sap in trees. Doctrine of its 
circulation. Grew, Malpighi, De la Baisse, Du Hamel, Knight, 
Ellis, Keith. Striking effects of heat and cold. — II. Girth 
and stoutness of stem. — III. Numerousness of roots and fibres. 
— New theory of tap-roots. Their analogy to, and coexistence 
with, leading branches. — IV. Extent, balance, and closeness of 
branches. Roots and branches relative and correlative. Curious 
protection furnished to the colder sides of trees. — Largest-headed 
trees resist the wind the best. — New principle of reversing the 
position of the branches on removal. Great effect produced by 
it. Unfounded nature of prejudices against the practice. — Idea 
of the preservative, in contradistinction to the mutilating method. 
Specimen of a tree removed at AUanton House, plate II. Com- 
parative view of the two systems, as applied to practice. - 77-109 



SECTION V. 

FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW THEORY. SELECTION OF SUBJECTS 

FOR REMOVAL. 

Selection of subjects the most difficult part of the art. Good sub- 
jects more numerous than is generally believed. — Errors usually 
committed by planters. I. Want of a proper adaptation of trees 
to soils. Illustrated by cropping in husbandry. — The handsomest 
trees always those that thrive the best. — II. Taking subjects from 
close woods and plantations. — Effects of climate on animals. Con- 
sequence of counteracting the laws of nature. — III. Setting out 
too early into the open field. Fallacious expectations entertained 
respecting that practice. — Striking illustration by a real example. 
Theory of ill success. Close analogy between vegetable and 
animal life. — Idea of a proper selection of subjects. Difficulty 
of following nature, in adapting the protecting properties. Im- 
portance of husbanding them, so as to produce the greatest 
effect. — Art of modifying the effect of heat and cold on woods. 
Curious points of resemblance between air and water. Places 
the best laid out always the best sheltered, — Fatal consequences of 
excluding cold from full-grown woods. — Selection of subjects for 
underwood. New method of bush-planting in the open park. 
Protecting the plants not impossible. Pontey. — Best sizes of 
trees for successful removal. - _ _ 110-128 



CONTENTS. 



SECTION VI. 

PREPARATION OF THE SOIL, FOR OPEN DISPOSITIONS OF TREES, AND CLOSE 

PLANTATIONS. 

Page 

Constituent parts of soils. Sir H. Davy, Kirwan, Griesen- 
thwaite. Properties of the best possible soil. — Deep soils parti- 
cularly favourable to trees. Vast superiority of park-wood in 
England. — Theory of the melioration of soils. Surprising 
changes worked by deepening and pulverising ; by comminution 
of the parts. — Water and heat indispensable agents. Theory of 
manures. Aeration of soils. Darwin, Davy, Thomson. — 
Superior merit and ingenuity of TuU. Causes of the failure of 
his system. — Best methods of improving soils ; mainly by inter- 
mixture, and following the chemistry of nature. Great value 
of lime and peat-moss. Discovery of Lord Meadowbank. — 
Ingenuity and science of the Earl of Dundonald. Dung and 
lime composts seldom prepared with accuracy. Sulphuric Acid 
an unfortunate intermixture. — Preparation of soils. I. For 
single trees and open dispositions of wood. Proper composts for 
different soils and subsoils, for immediate or future use. — Pre- 
paration for groups and larger masses. Great value of trench- 
ing, or double-digging, for promoting growth, and saving- 
expense. — Its extraordinary effects on wood, in the park and 
elsewhere ; on the value of land ; in eradicating rushes. Vast 
benefit of a twelvemonth's previous preparation. — II. Prepara- 
tion for close woods and plantations. Striking economy of 
previous trenching. Subsoils far more important than soils, in 
all planting. — General view of British subsoils, as favourable or 
unfavourable to wood. - - - - 129-156 

SECTION VIT. 

PREPARATION OF THE TREES FOR REMOVAL. 

Preparation, the providing of the protecting properties. Great 
error in supposing that it relates solely to roots. Importance 
of exposure, and letting Nature do her own work. Possession of 
the protecting properties the most perfect state of trees. — 1st. 
Preparation of single trees. Improvements on Lord Fitzhar- 
ding's method. Methods suited to various objects, and various 



CONTENTS. 



V 



circumstances of plants and soils. — 2d. Preparation of trees in 
large masses. Great utility of transplanting nurseries. — Belts 
and clumps in the style of Brown, furnish admirable materials. 
Mr Thomas White. Superior talents and ingenuity of that 
artist. Mode of treating these materials. — Style of forming the 
nurseries. Successful example from the practice at Allanton 
House. — Cultivation of transplanting nurseries an improvement, 
and in no view a deterioration of woods. - - 157-173 



SECTION VIII. 

TAKING-UP AND TRANSPOUTATION OF THE TREES. 

Superior management of roots, according to the preservative system. 
Misapprehension of Marshall and others. — Peculiar implements 
necessary to take up minute and fibrous roots. The tree-picker, 
plate IV. fig. 4. — Instructions for the process of taking-up. 
Injudicious to hurry that nice operation. Immense importance 
of preserving the capillary rootlets. Danger in leaving roots 
long uncovered. Remarkable difference in the habits of trees. — 
Raising the tree from the pit, and great improvement in the pro- 
cess. — Idea of the transplanting machines known in Europe. 
Superiority of Brown's machine, for dispatch and park-practice. 
— Machining the tree. The machiner's, a duty of nicety and 
difficulty. Details of the operation. — Machiner acts as steers- 
man. Tree draw^n out of the pit, and balance-men sent to the 
top. — Delineation of the machine in motion, on the balancing 
principle, plate III. Third wheel unnecessary, unless for very 
heavy work. — Transportation sometimes exposed to dangerous 
accidents. Account of an extraordinary one. — Light improved 
machines recommended for park-practice ; also an experienced 
maker near Allanton House. Two machines most desirable. — 
Description of three sizes. Diagram. Plate IV. Specification 
of the large-sized machine used at Allanton. — Of the small-sized. 
— Of the intermediate-sized. — Transportation of underwood. 
Little difficulty attending it. — Machines sufficiently large for the 
use of Scotland. . - . . . 174-203 



vi 



CONTENTS. 



SECTION IX. 

PLANTING OF THE TREES IN THEIR NEW SITUATIONS. 

Page 

Great importance of moving slowly along the ground. Shallow 
planting earnestly recommended. — Director of the work. Judg- 
ment to be shown by him in reversing and bringing the proper 
side of the tree to windward. Only way in which art can 
greatly improve the beauty of woody plants. — Easy method of 
attaining accuracy in placing trees. — Further details of the 
planting. — Bolstering up of the roots. Method of forming the 
retaining-bank. Use of props and supports entirely superseded. — 
Nicety and difficulty of the process of distribution. Handlers 
and coverers. Particular detail of this process. — Importance of 
bringing about a gradual subsidence of the mould not generally 
understood. Decalcation of the mould unadvisable, until the 
covering be finished. — Great difficulty in getting these operations 
performed leisurely enough. Not easily apprehended by verbal 
description. — Success of the preservative system mainly depend- 
ent on the retaining-bank, and preserving the fibres undisturbed. 
Superiority of the system. No tree ever blown down at Allanton 
House ; deaths^ one in forty ^ and five-and-forty, — New method 
of composing underwood, for close or ornamental plantations. 204-224. 

SECTION X. 

TREATMENT OF THE TREES SUBSEQUENTLY TO REMOVAL. 

Singular utility and importance of afterwork. I. For open 
dispositions of wood. " Shows" the best covering for trees. 
Levelling and dressing the surface. Graceful shape of the 
ground, in prominent situations, to be studied. — Management 
of the shows round trees. Keeping the ground with the 
hoe not necessary; better practice recommended for park- 
wood. — Sheep the most beautiful and useful stock for a park. 
Defences against them usually hideous, as well as expensive. 
Efficient and economical plan of a guard for trees, (see plate II. 
anteJi.) — Watering during the first season an indispensable part 
of afterwork. Water-cart. — Backwardness in the growth of 
trees an obscure subject, little understood by planters. — New 
mode of remedying that evil. Panacean compost. Juices from 



CONTENTS. 



vii 



the dunghill. — Causes of backwardness a subject of great in- 
terest to the general planter. Five causes that may probably 
contribute to it. Remarkable, that nearly all of them bear 
reference to the first year after removal. — Method of setting 
straight trees in the second and third season. Propping or sup- 
porting them quite unhnown in the preservative system, — II. After- 
work for close woods and plantations. Immense advantage of 
creating a superior climate. — Other details of management. 
Transferred woods after two years equal to ordinary plantations 
of five-and-forty. In the park at AUanton, the removed woods 
decidedly the most healthy and vigorous. - - 225-253. 



SECTION XI. 

EXPENSE ATTENDING THE FOREGOING OPERATIONS. 

Expense of the preservative method unfairly exaggerated. One 
of its chief objects to lessen the expense. — I. Examples drawn 
from my own practice. Expense of preparation in various 
ways. — Of taking up, transporting, and planting. Example 
of the cost of transferring a tree from fifteen to eighteen feet 
high. Of another from twenty-five to thirty feet. — Example 
of work executed at AUanton House, between 1816 and 
1821, delineated in plate I. — Another example in wooding an 
entrance-gate. Description of the ground, plate V. New plan of 
external planting recommended, so as to produce picturesque 
effect in park-entrances. — Example of wooding two acres, as 
seen by the Highland Society. — Comparative view of the cost of 
wooding a promontory, by means of the machine, and by the 
common method of planting. — II. Examples drawn from the 
practice of others. Expense of removals made by James Smith, 
Esq., of Jordan-hill.— By John M^Call, Esq., of IbroxhilL— By 
Robert Watson, Esq., banker in Glasgow. — By Mr James 
Hamilton, overseer to Sir Charles Lockhart, Bart. — By 
William Elliott Lockhart, Esq., of Cleghorn, M.P.— By Sir 
Walter Scott, Bart., of Abbotsford. — Ascertained expense of 
transferring trees and underwood, on the preservative principle, 
at AUanton House. — Planting, together with the other Arts, 
undeniably derived from the South. — Art of removal in both 
countries still a matter of physical force, and needless labour. — 
Cursory delineation of the English method. Expense reduced 



VIU CONTENTS. 

Page 

in any case, to the one half, and often less, by the preservative 
system, ------ 254-287 



SECTION XII. 

OF THE PRINCIPAL FOREST TREES THE OAK. 

General deficiency of practical knowledge regarding planting. — 
Reasons assigned for this. — Design of the three following sec- 
tions. — The Oak ; its peculiar and eminent qualities, and prin- 
cipal varieties. — Its striking characteristics described by Virgil. — 
Failure of experiments in its treatment in the first instances at 
AUanton, and subsequent success. — Practical principles deduced 
from those experiments. — Suggestions relative to the transplant- 
ing of Oaks. — Places in Great Britain where the Oak chiefly 
abounds. — Peculiarities of the aboriginal Oak. — Spreading Oak 
most prevalent in ancient forests : upright Oak in modern 
parks.— Cause assigned for the prevalence of this last-men- 
tioned species. — Proprietors and nurserymen censured. — The 
cultivation of the spreading Oak, and its two principal varieties, 
recommended to the consideration of the Highland Society, as 
also the improvement of the method of raising nursery plants. — 
Concluding advice relative to the selection of Oak plants for 
removal. — Importance of the Oak, both for ordinary purposes of 
transplanting, and its general utility. - - 288-309 



SECTION Xtll. 

OF THE ASH — ELM BEECH. 

The Ash, next in general utility and beauty to the Oak. — Of the 
fourteen species of the Ash, one only indigenous in Britain, the 
rest in America. — Its utility : its chief characteristic : the soil 
most adapted to it. — Ash well suited for transplanting : the pro- 
per season for its removal. — Two faults which affect its trans- 
plantation. — Caution respecting the preservation of its leaf and 
rind. — Proper places for planting the Ash : description of the 
pendent Ash. — Noble specimens of this variety at Allanton. — 
The Jugg tree. — The pendent Ash strongly recommended for 
planting or transplanting. — The Elm next in rank and value. — ■ 
A native of Britain. — Cause of the confusion respecting the 
Elm prevalent among botanists and writers on wood. — Best 



CONTENTS. 



ix 



account given of it "by Marshall, which is here adopted. — Two 
principal varieties described. — The first properly indigenous in 
Britain, while the second is only naturalised. — The Scotch or 
Witch Elm more picturesque, though less stately than the 
English Elm. — Its utility and peculiar property described. — 
Favourite soil of the Elm. — Easily transplanted. — Hardiness of 
the Scotch Elm. — Fitted for either parks, mountains, or forests. 
— The Witch Hazel, either a variety or distinct species. — 
The Beech, properly only one species. — Its two remarkable 
varieties. — Author's opinion that there are two distinct species 
of the Beech. — Beech a native of Britain. — The <prjyos of Caesar 
probably a species of Oak. — Great utility of the Beech. — 
Description of the Beech, and the soil most suited to it. — 
Gilpin's account of it, and eulogium. — Its two varieties, and theii- 
properties, described. — Beech peculiarly adapted for a park or 
lawn, or in bush planting, especially in new places when con- 
joined with the aboriginal Oak. — Useful for field hedges. — 
Season for its removal. — Needs much care and precaution. — 
Result of experiments made at Allanton, with a view to its 
preservation after removal. — Of most forest trees, with the ex- 
ception of the Elm, the latest always transplant the best. 310-332. 



SECTION XIV. 

or THE SYCAMORE — NORWAY MAPLE — CHESTNUT HORSE-CHESTNUT LIME 

— SCOTCH FIR — WILD CHERRY — LARCH — BIRCH. 

Advice to the young planter and transplanter. — The Sycamore, or 
Greater Maple, called in Scotland the Plane tree.— -Two dis- 
tinct varieties, early and late. — Not indigenous in Britain. Its 
useful qualities. — Its size, hardiness, favourite soil, early ap- 
pearances, and facility of removal. — Accident to which it is 
occasionally exposed. — Little difference in the characteristics of 
the two varieties. — Norway Maple, a native of Norway. — Its 
appearance and properties. — Recently introduced into Scotland. 
— Miller's opinion ^of its utility. — The Chestnut belongs to first 
class of forest trees. — One other kind enumerated, the dwarf 
American Chestnut. — Another added by Dr Yule, discovered in 
North Carolina. — The Chestnut a native of Asia Minor, brought 
first to Italy by Tiberius. — Needs dry and deep soil, and 
favourable climate. — Its noble appearance. — Purposes for which 
it is used enumerated. — Nuts used for food in France and Italy. 



X 



CONTENTS. 



— This tree more prevalent formerly in Britain. — Probable 
causes of its decline. — Remains of ancient Chestnuts in old 
forests and chases near London. — Thrives well in Scotland, 
especially in a gravelly or alluvial soil. — Precautions to be 
taken in transplanting it. — Salvator Rosa's predilection for the 
Chestnut in his landscapes. — The Horse-Chestnut, a native of 
North of Asia, brought to Vienna and France in 1558. Natural- 
ised in Britain thirty years after. — Two varieties. — Its beauty 
and stateliness. — Its freedom of growth and hardiness. — 
Adapted to lawns and parks. — Gilpin's opinion of it. — Facility 
of its removal. — Wood of little value, and brittle. — Roots very 
hardy. — Earliness of its leaf. — The Lime, indigenous to Britain. 
— One species, the rest only varieties. — The two principal 
varieties described. — The Bunwood or broad-leaved Lime, a 
native of America, recommended for cultivation in this country. 
— Very ornamental to a lawn and ancient avenues. — Proper 
soil, adverse to wet. — Utility not great. — Uses enumerated. — 
Evelyn's loyal remarks on it. — To what purposes put by the 
Greeks and Romans. — Can be removed at any period of the 
year. — The Scotch Fir. — Various species enumerated by 
botanists. — Indigenous to Britain. — Three other species natural- 
ised. — Magnitude and great age which it attains. — Explanation 
of Caesar's statement. — Of the Pine family, and deserves to be 
cultivated. — Three varieties, discovered by Mr George Don, enu- 
merated. — The reasons assigned by him for the deterioration of 
the Scotch Fir. — Several other species of the Pine family de- 
scribed. — Marshall's prejudiced account of the Scotch Fir. — More 
favourable opinion of Gilpin, Price, and Pontey. — Reasons 
assigned by the Author for its present deterioration. — Fine speci- 
mens of Firs at different places in Scotland. — Its natural soil, and 
power of accommodation to all soils. — Various and impor- 
tant purposes to which this tree is used. — Season for removal, 
end of March or October. — The Wild Cherry, or Geen tree, 
originally a native of Asia Minor, and brought by LucuUus to 
Europe. — Its eminent qualities and value. — Rarely found in 
Scotland. — Easily transplanted from November till April. — 
The Larch, of the Pine family. — A native of South of Europe 
and Siberia, but brought to England in 1629. — Three species. — 
Flourishes in the Alps and the Apennines. — Celebrated by 
ancient writers. — Suited to all soils and climates. — More valu- 
able than almost any other tree in this country. How used 
in Switzerland. — Not ornamental in park or pleasure-grounds. — 



CONTENTS. 



xi 



Early in its appearances. — Is not easily transplanted. — The 
Birch, not so well fitted for parks, but more suited for woods 
and shrubberies. — Different varieties. — Rarely in this climate 
attains a great size. — Wood useful, though not valuable. — How 
used in Lapland. — Abounds in the Highlands of Scotland, and 
there used, together with Hazel, for every purpose, agricultural 
or domestic. — Properties of its bark and other qualities. — Its 
hardiness, &c. Accommodates itself to every soil. — Description 
of some fine old Birches at Allanton. — Birch may be removed of 
considerable size, but great precaution must be used. — Invalu- 
able as copse or underwood. - - _ 833-370 



No account of the Hawthorn aud Ash in Section XIV,, has been given 
by the Author, though the names of these trees are mentioned in the title of 
that Section. 



CONTENTS 

OF THE 

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



SECTION I. 

Page 

Note I. Limited extent of arboricultural knowledge in Scotland. 
Two anecdotes respecting it. — Note II. Importance of establish- 
ing a Scottish Arboricultural Society. Miserable condition of 
the nursery business. No science in nurserymen. Want of it 
in the landholders the efficient cause. — Note III. Origin of 
landscape gardening in England. Fine idea of it given by 
Milton. Bacon, Kent. First places laid out by him. — Note 
IV. High merit of Sir Uvedale Price, in improving the pre- 
sent taste. Loudon's " Improvement of Country Residences." 
Pontey's "Hural Improver." General reformation in land- 
scape gardeners. — Note V, Utility of the art, in wooding the 
open grounds of a great city. Example of Edinburgh. Oppor- 
tunity from Lord Moray's late park lost, never to be recalled. 
Possibility of at once wooding the Scottish Acropolis. - 371-378 

SECTION II. 

Note III. The art of landscape painting unknown to the Ancients. 
Not a picturesque description in all Homer or Virgil. Ludius, 
in the time of Augustus, the first landscape painter. The 
elder Pliny's account of the art. — Note X. The younger 
Pliny's two gardens. His descriptions of them might serve for 
those in the time of King William III. Cherries raised in 
Britain before the time of Julius Caesar. — Note XI. Excellent 
imitation, by Gaspar Barlaeus, of the style of Tacitus. — Note 
XII. Idea of Le Notre, the favourite garden-architect of Louis 
XIV. Causes of the paramount ascendancy of his genius in 



CONTENTS. 



xiii 



France. Taste in gardening all over Europe still swayed by it, 
Great Britain excepted. — Note XIII. High literary character 
and controversial powers of Sir Uvedale Price. His severity 
towards Brown and Kent probably carried too far. — Note XIV. 
Anecdote of the late Earl of Abercorn. — Note XVI. Horticul- 
tural achievement of Dr Graham of Edinburgh. Trees and 
bushes removed by him. — His success greater with exotics than 
with park wood. Radical difference between horticultural 
transplanting, and transplanting in the open park. Idea of his 
having anticipated the preservative system unfounded. — Note 
XVII. English gardening carried to Poland. Princess Czar- 
toryski's meritorious treatise on the art. — Loudon's curious 
picture of Polish manners, and of a royal park, during the reign 
of Stanislaus. ----- 379-390 



SECTION III. 



Note I. Examination of the question, "Whether plantations 
should be raised from the seed, or by means of removed plants?" 
Marshall's specious method of settling it.— Miller, Evelyn, 
Emmerick, Speechly, Nicol, Sang, Pontey, variously advo- 
cate the question — Dr Yule's opinion in favour of sowing. 
Sentiments of the author of the Encyclopedia of Agriculture. 
Decisive experiments by Forsyth. Summing up of the argu- 
ment in favour of planting. — Note II, The mutilating system 
strongly reprobated by Miller. Incontrovertible arguments 
against it, from both theory and practice. — Note IV. Specula- 
tion on heat in trees. Experiments of distinguished chemists — 
Riichert, Senebier, Woodward, Schoppett, Ingenhoutz. Ther- 
mometers kept in trees by John Hunter. — Note V. Illustra- 
tions of the analogy between animal and vegetable life, in the 
effects of heat and cold. Coach or race horse within doors and 
without ; Musk ox of Melville Island ; Kamtschatka Mammoth ; 
Elephant ; African Negro. Trees under the torrid zone. — 
Note VII. Examination of the opinion of English planters, that 
" Old trees and young possess similar properties ; therefore, they 
should be removed on similar principles." Marshall, author of 
the Encyclopedia of Agriculture, His general practical rule 
irreconcilable with good science. — Conclusive experiments by 
Miller. — Note VIII. Curious examples of trees laying aside, 
and reacquiring, the protecting and non-protecting properties. The 
former always more slowly acquired than the latter. - 891-402 



xiv 



CONTENTS. 



SECTION IV. 

Page 

Note I. Malpighi, a native of Bologna ; flourished in the middle 
of the l7th century. Grew, an eminent physician, his contem- 
porary, and father of English phytology. — Note II. — History 
of the circulation of the sap. Curious adaptation of it to 
the circulation of the blood in animals. Hedwig, Costi, 
Willdenow, Keith. Mr Knight's ingenious hypothesis. — 
Scepticism of Mr Keith unconquerable. — Note III. Intro- 
susception of food not confined to plants. Men, in certain 
cases, receive their sustenance by that means, as well as vege- 
tables. — Note IV. Erroneous to suppose that trees are with- 
out the power of renewing their tap-roots, — Yule, Sang. 
Forsyth's judicious experiments to prove the fact. — Theory by 
Mr Knight, of the effects of gravitation on both branches and 
roots. Probably unfounded. Du Hamel, Knight. Ingenious 
paper by Mr Keith, to disprove the theory. — Note V. Dis- 
quisition on pruning. Sang, Pontey, Loudon. Errors of 
Pontey's system. Rash and dangerous, unless controlled by 
science. — Ingenious inquiry by Loudon, into the safe, as well as 
the injurious uses of pruning. — Idea of the best principles of the 
art. Superior excellence of terminal priming, — Note VII. 
Good idea of regulating arboricultural processes by fashion. — 
Severe effect of the western gales on park wood. New remedy, 
by balancing trees, and reversing the position of their windward 
and leeward sides. — Note VIII. Antiquity of the prejudice of 
preserving the same position of trees on removal. Theophrastus, 
Cato, Columella, Palladius, Virgil, Wise, Cooke. Good sense 
of Pliny reprobated by Evelyn, and confirmed by Miller. 
Prejudice continued down to the present period. ~ 403-418 

SECTION V. 

Note I. Vast importance of a judicious selection of subjects. 
Success or miscarriage always regulated accordingly. If injudi- 
ciously selected, all advancement is retarded, until the deficient 
properties be supplied. Various illustrations of this uniform 
principle. 419-420 



CONTENTS. 



XV 



SECTION VI. 

Page 

Note I. Chemical opinions respecting soils. Fourcroy, Hassen- 
fratz, Young. Bergman's idea of the best possible soil. — Analy- 
sis by Sir H. Davy of the soil at Sheffield Place. — Note III. 
Lord Meadowbank, one of the greatest benefactors to the British 
farmer, as well as arboriculturist. Improvement on his method 
of preparing manure from peat. Details of the new process. — 
Moss- compost prepared with lime, according to Lord Dundonald's 
method. Peculiarly valuable, in procuring cheap manure, 
without encroaching on the farm-yard. — Note IV. Great im- 
provement made in the common mode of trenching or double- 
digging. Three spits deep recommended, instead of two, and no 
shovellings. Particulars of this method, as practised at Allan- 
ton House. Greater depth, and greater comminution of the 
parts, obtained by it. - - - - 421-427 

Mr Withers's two Pamphlets. 

First pamphlet ; Great power of trenching and manuring, to 
accelerate the growth of wood, and the return to the planter.^ 
System not new; well known to the ancients, and to every 
modern nation ; familiar to myself forty years ago. — Important 
for particular purposes, but not adapted to general planting.— 
Unfounded and erroneous in Mr Withers, to call the pitting 
method of planting " the Scotch System." Long known to, 
and practised by every other nation in Europe, down to the 
present time. - 427-430 

Second pamphlet : Improvement of the royal forests, and raising 
superior timber for the navy ; — in a letter to Sir Walter Scott, 
on certain "Fundamental Errors," committed by that dis- 
tinguished writer, in his able Essay " On the Planting of Waste 
Lands." — Egregious blunders of Mr William Billington, Sur- 
veyor-General of eleven thousand acres of the Forest of Dean ; 
also in following " the supposed Scotch method.''^ — Condemnation 
of Mr Withers's plan, by all planters of experience, for 



* The title of the pamphlet is : — " A Memoir addressed to the Society for 
the encouragement of Arts, &c.; on the Planting and Rearing of Forest Trees, 
demonstrating the necessity of Trenching Ground, &c., and the powerful and 
Profitable Effects of Manure. 2d Edit. London, 1826." 



xvi ■ CONTENTS. 

Page 

general purposes. Fitted to give a speedy return of marketable 
timber, but nothing more, under certain circumstances. 431-434 

Main question examined ; namely, the effects of the trenching and 
manuring system on the quality of timber for ships of war. 
Shown, from the well-known laws affecting growth in woody 
plants, that instead of improving, it would sensibly deteriorate 
all timber, and especially the Oak. Various illustrations of 
this doctrine. Argument resolved into six practical conclusions, 
founded on phytological principles, and supported by facts. — 
Clearly demonstrated, that Sir Walter Scott has committed no 
" Fundamental Errors," but that such errors have been com- 
mitted by Mr Withers himself. — Low and unsettled state of the 
Art of Planting on scientific principles. Billington, Loudon. 
Messrs Pontey and Withers, being too much occupied with the 
bulk of timber produce, altogether overlook its solidity and 
durability. ----- 434-440 

Note V. Successful method of eradicating rushes. If proceeding 
from underground water, to be effected by regular draining ; if 
from tenacit3'' of soil or subsoil (the worst cause), by deep 
trenching. — Details and cost of the process, under various cir- 
cumstances. — Curious fact, that deep trencliing will render wet 
land dry, and dry land moist, for any useful purpose, 440-444 

SECTION VIL 

Note I. Mr Thomas White, the celebrated landscape gardener. 
His manners and character. — He purchases land on an arbori- 
cultural speculation. Price of the estate in 1770, £750. He 
plants almost the whole of it. Yearly return from the wood in 
]810, ^600; in 1815, from Larch bark alone, £400 ; and from the 
entire woods, £1000 ! Value of the whole wood on the estate in 
1826, had it been to be cut down, ,£30,000 ! ! ! Circumstances 
stated on the best authority. _ _ - 445-447 

SECTION VIII. 

Note I. Apology to the critical reader for new words introduced 
into the details of a new art. — Note II. Machine of Brown 
borrowed from the " Janker" of the wood-merchant. Idea of a 
new machine for trees of great magnitude, with four wheels ; 
two six feet, and two eight feet high. - - 448-449 



CONTENTS. 



xvu 



SECTION X. 

Page 

Note I. " Shows," or the refuse of flax at the flax-mill, an admi- 
rable thatch for cottages. Method of preparing and applying it. 
This covering advisable, wheve roofs are exposed externally to 
risk from fire. — Note II. New method of manuring orchards 
and fruit borders, on the principle of the panacean compound, 
prepared with either dung or lime. Directions for the execution. 
— Note III. Useful mode of preserving and applying the juices 
of the dunghill as a manure. Pit with metal pump ; water cart 
for trees in the park. Peat-moss in this way decomposed 
eff^ectually. - . . - - 450-454 

SECTION XI. 

Note I. Disquisition on park entrances. Usually dull and unin- 
teresting things. Plan for their improvement by open wooding, 
and giving them foreground, consequence, and picturesque 
effect. Details of the plan; peculiarly adapted to English 
places. Deserving of being brought into fashion, as it sur- 
mounts all obstacles, and conceals all deformities, at the least 
possible expense. View of the entrance-gate to the park at 
AUanton House, from the west, plate VI. — Note II. Advan- 
tages of wooding, by means of the transplanting machine, con- 
siderably underrated. No other method of obtaining a pro- 
fusion of park-wood, unless by planting the entire surface. — 
Note III. Further evidence of the great utility of watering, in 
1826. Success of the f,rst 2/ear alwaya the most important to 
transplanted wood. _ - » . 455-460 

SECTION XII. 

Note I. Timber trees enumerated. Marshall's arrangement of 
trees and shrubs. — Note II. The dimensions of the Cowthorpe 
Oak, the Bentley Oak, and the great Boddington Oak. Wal- 
lace's Oak in the Torwood, near Stirling. The list of ancient 
Oaks made by Evelyn, Marsham, and Gilpin, referred to. — 
Note III. Botanical description of the upright Oak, the 
spreading Oak, and the mossy-cup Oak. Oaks recommended 
by Dr Yule and the Horticultural Society to be introduced into 
plantations in Scotland. — Note IV. Two kinds of Oaks stated 



xviii 



CONTENTS. 



by Evelyn to be frequent with us. His opinion respecting the 
most proper Oaks as timber for the navy. Opinion of Du Roi, 
and suggestion of Martyn, relative to the wood of the sessile- 
fruited Oak, and the stalk-fruited Oak. Lightfoot's and Sir 
James E. Smith's remarks on the spreading Oak. Mistaken 
opinions of several scientific and practical writers with regard to 
the comparative value of our native species of Oaks, regretted. 
— Note V. The Esculus of Pliny or the cut-leaved Italian Oak. 
To whom dedicated by the ancients, and purpose for which its 
branches were used by the Romans. — Note VI. The Quercus 
Robur. Anecdote respecting it. Sometimes mistaken for a 
Beech. — Note VII. Extent of woods planted by several of the 
Scottish nobility. — Note VIII. System of arboriculture in Scot- 
land, though extensively practised, very injudicious. Usual 
practice described. Evils of the system, and its cause assigned. 
Qualifications of a nurseryman. Suggestion relative to the 
Agricultural Society of Scotland. Hope expressed that the 
profession of a nurseryman might rise from the level of an ordi- 
nary trade to the rank of a liberal study. - - 461- 

SECTION XIII. 

Note I. Common Ash described by Linnaeus. The American 
white Ash. Dr Yule's opinion relative to the Ash family. — 
Note II. Powers of territorial jurisdictions in Scotland previous 
to 1745. " The Juggs" described. " The Gallows Hill" near 
Allanton. — Note III. Several fine Ash trees at Glammis Castle. 
Ash tree at Touch House in Stirlingshire, nearly ninety feet 
high, &c. Age traced up to reign of James II. in middle of the 
fifteenth century. — Note IV. Botanical descriptions of the Elm 
by various naturalists. Best account in Millar's Dictionary. 
Three kinds of Elm, the Witch or Scotch Elm, the Witch Hazel, 
and the English Elm, described. Another species mentioned by 
Dr Yule, viz. the White Elm of North America. The Red 
Elm of Canada. Scotch and English Elms differently pro- 
pagated, the former by seed, and latter by suckers. English 
Elm usually ingrafted on Scotch Elm : reason assigned. — Note 
V. Reason why Elms do not attain so great a size in Scotland as 
in England. Witch Elm mentioned by Cook in Sir Walter 
Bagot's park in Staffordshire : its extraordinary dimensions. 
Another Elm described by Marsham, near Bradley Church, 
Suffolk. Others noticed by Martyn. — Note VI. Narrow-leaved 



CONTENTS. 



xix 



Elm in the Vale of Gloucester, commonly called " Piffe's Elm." 
Its dimensions given by Marshall in 1783, and its measurement 
in 1824. Decayed Elm of great size in Hyde Park, probably 
planted in Charles II.'s time. — Note VII. The upright Elm, 
not a new variety. — Note VIII. Beech not considered a timber 
tree in England before Bradley's time. Remarkable trial before 
the Barons of Exchequer about 1725, w^hich decided its claim to 
be a timber tree. Practice in Buckinghamshire referred to by 
Bradley. — Note IX. Greek derivation of the Fagus ((ftrjyos) 
or Beech. Two varieties mentioned by Bradley, viz., the 
white or silver Beech, and the wild or vale Beech. Two others 
known to nurserymen ; but they are only shrubs. The purple 
copper-coloured Beech of Germany — Note X. Caesar's statement 
about the similarity of the Beech in Britain and Gaul. Light- 
foot's and Marshall's opinion relative to its being indigenous in 
Scotland and England. — Note XI. Beech useful as fuel, food 
for animals, and as affording oil. Its leaves used for mattresses 
for beds in other countries. This practice highly recommended 
to be introduced into this country. — Note XII. Beech employed 
by the author, in conjunction with thorn, for field-hedges with 
complete success. This species of fence strongly recommended, 
and has, since its discovery, been extensively practised in Scot- 
land and the north of England. The Barberry and the Beech, in 
equal parts, form the most beautiful of all hedges near a gentle- 
man's residence. — Note XIII. Definition of the Scottish term 
" Dorty." — Note XIV. Quotation from Ralph Austin relative to 
the best season for the removal of young Beech plants. 471-480 

SECTION XIV. 

Note I. Botanical descriptions of the Maple. — Note II. Pontey's 
remark on the Sycamore. Account of some old Sycamores at 
Allanton. — Note III. Norway Maple described by Linnaeus.— 
Note IV. Statement respecting the influence of the sea-breeze 
on the Lace or Lime Oak of America, first made by Dr Yule, 
doubted. Statements, especially in an art like planting, should 
be invariably verified by facts founded on experiments. — Note 
V. The class and order of the Chestnut and the Beech botanically 
described. — Note VI. Evelyn's opinion, that the Chestnut is 
indigenous in Britain, shown to be erroneous. — Note VII. 
Chestnut grows to great size in the southern countries of Europe. 
Several mentioned. The largest known in England stands at 



XX 



CONTENTS. 



Tortwoi'th, Gloucestershire, the seat of Lord Ducie. The great 
Chestnut which stood some years since at Findhaven in Forfar- 
shire. — Note VIII. Linnaeus' description and classification of the 
Horse-Chestnut not generally followed by botanists. — Note IX. 
Remarks relative to the removal of the Horse-Chestnut. Ac- 
count of two Horse-Chestnuts in the park at AUanton. — Note 

X. Smith's classification of the Lime. Five varieties. Three other 
American species mentioned, of which the Bunwood, or broad- 
leaved, principally deserves cultivation in this climate. — Note 

XI. Size of the Lime abroad. Instances given by Evelyn and 
Coxe. Miller s account of some Limes in England. Sir Thomas 
Brown s description of a Lime given by him to Evelyn. — Note 

XII. Account of an experiment made on a Lime about twenty- 
five feet high at Allanton. Peculiarity in the treatment of Limes 
when transplanted. Tendency of the Ash also to push its roots 
up in search of food. — Note XIII. Wild Pine or Scotch Fir, 
described by LinnsBus and Sir James E. Smith. Mr Don of 
Forfar most successful in discriminating its varieties. — Note 

XIV. Whitaker's remarks on the Fir tree or wild Pine. — Note 

XV. Four principal varieties of the Scotch Fir enumerated by 
Mr George Don of Forfar. His opinion relative to the ancient 
Pine forests of Britain. — Note XVI. Large frigate built of the 
Duke of Athole's Fir in 1798. Wood more close and compact 
than foreign Fir. — Note XVII. The properties of the Pinus 
Maritima referred to. The Cluster Pine the next best calculated 
to withstand the sea-breeze. Discovery and dimensions of the 
red Pine of Canada. — Note XVIII. Linnaeus' classification and 
description of the wild Cherry or Guigne. — Note XIX. Botani- 
cal description of the Larch. Three different kinds, the white, 
the black, and the red Larch, severally described. — Note XX. 
Pliny's remark concerning Larch wood. Discovery of a peculiar 
property of the Larch, said to have been made by Caesar when 
in the neighbourhood of the Alps. Hannibal, however, accord- 
ing to Gilpin, succeeded in igniting it when crossing the Alps. — 
Note XXL Pontey's opinion respecting some alleged peculiari- 
ties of the Larch in not shrinking nor warping, dissented from 
by the author. — Note XXII. Magnificent Larches belonging to 
the Duke of Athole. Larch much degenerated since its intro- 
duction into Scotland. Seed recommended to be procured from 
the Alps. Qualities in which British Larch wood chiefly defi- 
cient. — Note XXIII. Author's opinion about the beauty of 
the Larch at variance with that of most naturalists. — Note 



CONTENTS. xxi 

Page 

XXIV. Larcli does not well withstand wind in open exposures. 
— Note XXV. Smith's description of the Birch. Three kinds 
enumerated, the mahogany, yellow, and black Birch. — Note 
XXVI. " The Woburn Beech." Its unsightly appearance from 
erroneous pruning. - - - - 481-497 

APPENDIX. 

Report of the Committee of the Highland Society of Scotland, 

appointed to inspect the woods at Allanton House, 499 
Hints relative to Planting, for the Honourable Sir A. J. C. 512 
Resuscitation of Old Trees, a Letter to Admiral Sir T. Living- 
ston, Bart. - - - - - 515 



LIST OP PLATES. 



^^y/i*0RTRAiT of the Author, Frontispiece. 

^Plate I. View in the park at Allanton House, — to face page 14 
^ Plate II. Specimen of a tree removed on the preservative 

principle, - - - - - 104 

^ Plate III. View of the machine in motion, and of a tree dur- 

ing transportation, - - - 186 

Plate IV. Transplanting machine used at Allanton House, 192 
^ Plate V. Entrance-gate to the park at Allanton, from the 

East, as wooded in March 1826, - 186 

Plate VI. Entrance-gate to the park at Allanton, from the 

West, - - - . 457 



MEMOIR. 



MEMOIR 



OF 

SIR HENRY STEUART, BART., OF ALLANTON, 

LL.D., F.R.S.E., &c. 



It has been frequently remarked, that the details of a 
retired and literary life must be necessarily few and 
unimportant. While there is, in most instances, not a 
little truth in this statement, it does not, however, foUow 
that it is either universally just, or that there should be 
any necessary connexion between a studious or even 
ordinary retirement and the absence of utility or interest, 
whether of a local or more general character. It is true 
that, both in the history of nations and individuals, striking 
events or brilliant exploits are calculated to awaken and 
compel a high degree of interest and admiration, however 
little beneficial or important may prove their results, to 
either the individual himself or the nation in whose 
history these events have occurred. If we turn to the 
page of history, what is it which generally arrests the 
attention 1 The rise of empires whose progress is stained 
and marked by blood, the consequences of hostile invasion, 
or the plots and conspiracies of internal discord, supply 
materials for the historian, and afford an interest to his 
readers, apart from all considerations of general utility 



ii 



MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 



and national happiness and improvement. For seldom, 
in the distractions which accompany the rise of kingdoms 
and enlargement of empires, do national happiness and 
prosperity, in at least their most proper acceptation, keep 
pace with those external indications of greatness and dis- 
tinction, which in the annals of the historian make so 
imposing an appearance. We must turn rather to more 
peaceful eras, when the campaigns and triumphs of the 
warrior have been followed by repose — or when, after a 
period of successive distractions and internal convulsions, 
a nation has begun to concentrate its energies and acquire 
solidity and strength — if we wish to contemplate the 
proper results of all this previous national contention — ^the 
establishment, namely, and progress of the arts of peace, 
from which alone human improvement and happiness can 
proceed. But while the truth of this statement will be 
generally admitted, especially in a country such as this, 
which has so long been exempted from the ravages of 
foreign invasion, or the still more melancholy and dis- 
astrous exhibition of civil strife, the general reader, who 
has perused with keen relish and interest the more stirring 
and brilliant records of other historical periods, will 
naturally — more especially the younger student — feel the 
want of that stimulant which before at once whetted and 
gratified his curiosity and attention. His eye probably 
runs over many a dry page, filled with the records of his 
country's quiet but sensible improvement ; and, unless he 
be distinguished by a more than ordinary thoughtful and 
reflective character, he will find some difiiculty in keeping 
up his attention, in the absence of a high-strained, though 
sometimes unhealthy excitement. 

What is true of nations, and of the eff'ect produced by 
a perusal of their histories at different periods, is equally 
true of individuals, and the occurrences which form the 



MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 



Ill 



subject-matter of their respective memoirs. Of course we 
have no intention to state that, either in the history of 
nations or individuals, much that is useful, as well as what 
is interesting, may not be obtained from the more stirring 
events which may have occurred in each; but we still 
maintain that there is not, in general, sufficient attention 
given to the more still and peaceful tenor of a nation's or 
individuaFs life, when the very circumstances of their 
respective repose enable them to collect all their latent 
energies to effect the design which the Supreme Author 
of their destinies had in view — the development, namely, 
of their moral and intellectual powers (for nations, too, as 
well as individuals, have a moral character and obliga- 
tions) for their personal or social progressive amelioration 
and prosperity. In either case, in a period of peaceful 
repose, the history and progress of a nation or individual 
resembles the still and placid stream, whose passage, scarce 
ruffled by a ripple on its waters, glides by an almost 
imperceptible movement in its channel, spreading fertility 
in its onward course — noiseless, and unaccompanied by the 
fretful clamour which marks the passage of the mountain 
torrent. By the latter may be indicated the more stirring 
and active scenes of a nation's or individuaFs history, 
which too frequently, as already observed, attract the 
vulgar gaze and admiration, however delusive may prove 
their brilliancy, and however injurious or destructive may 
prove its course. The dancing sparkle of the sunbeam 
on the spray of the dashing and foaming mountain torrent, 
reflects not seldom the deceptive brilliancy of more stirring 
acts of national or personal history, as the ravages which 
such a torrent commits have too lively a counterpart in 
the little utility, or positive injury, which such actions 
sometimes occasion. 

The improvement and utility to which above reference 



iv 



3fEM0IR OF THE AUTHOR. 



lias been made, as connected with times of comparative 
repose, is strictly in accordance with the nature of man. 
When bj a reflective process the mind is enabled to turn 
in upon itself, it is necessarily most thoughtful, and less 
disposed to require external and adventitious means of 
occupation or enjoyment. In colloquial phraseology, the 
stillest streams are said to be the deepest ; and this 
sentiment is iu variably confirmed by experience. Very 
commonly, in public life, those whose names are most 
heard of, and whose characters and performances seem, 
and justly, most brilliant, are not the most useful members 
of a popular assembly or a state. In our legisla- 
tive assembly, for instance, the laborious workers on 
committees perform often most ef&ciently the practical 
business of the House and the country. Nor is this, 
indeed, matter of surprise, as calm reflection is most con- 
ducive to a close and proper consideration of questions, 
undisturbed by personal motives of ostentatious display, 
or by any of those external influences or attractions which 
are calculated to divert the attention from the subject on 
which it is exerted. Both are useful in their several 
departments, whether the brilliant orator or the practical 
man of business ; but, to recur to the statement with 
which we commenced these remarks, the claims of the 
former will greatly preponderate, in general estimation, 
over those of the latter. 

In connexion with the subject with which we are more 
immediately concerned, the commendations that have been 
lavished in all ages on a life of literary retirement, and 
sometimes even on one involving mere withdrawal from 
public business and addiction to rural pm'suits, are too many 
to enumerate, and are, besides, sufficiently known. To 
confine ourselves, however, to those authors with whom the 
subject of this memoir was so intimately acquainted. 



MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 



Y 



Cicero, in his De Senectute,'^ Be Oficiis^^ and others of his 
works, refers in the strongest terms of commendation to the 
pleasures of a country life. Virgil J and Horace § allude 
in similar strains, in many passages of their poems, to the 
superior enjoyments of rural retirement and agricultui'al 
pm'suits. In the elegant epistles of Pliny, we are present- 
ed with a graphic account of the beauties of some of his 
Italian yillas, and his ordinary occupations and amuse- 
ments ; in the latter of which he much resembled his 
uncle, the elder Pliny, in his addiction to study and ele- 
gant literature. After his retirement from pubKc business, 
and his Eastern campaigns, Lucullus finally forsook the 
paths of ambition, and resisted all the applications of the 
leaders of Rome previous to the first triumyirate, and the 
entreaties of his friends, to take a public part in the civil 
affairs of that busy period, in wliich he might have aspired, 
if not to the first, at least to a prominent position. If 
not as addicted, duiing his retirement, to literary pursuits 
as much as others who might be mentioned, still, as the in- 
troducer of the Cerasus, or Cherry-tree, from Pontus into 
Europe, he would seem to have given his attention to sub- 
jects connected with matters of practical utility in a 
country life. The whole history of Atticus, as recorded 
by Cornehus Nepos, from its commencement to its close, 
illustrates, more strongly than any mere commendations, 
the happiness and benefit which may be obtained and pro- 
duced in the quiet and even tenor of a life withdrawn for 
the most part fi'om general view and pubhc employments. 
And finally may be instanced the concluding years in the 
life of Sallust the historian, as presented to us in the ad- 
mirable essay prefixed to his translation of that author's 
works by the subject of this Memoir; who, when he had 

* Cic. De Sen. §§ 15, 16. t Cic. De Off. lib. i. cap. 42. 

X Virg. Georg. lib. ii. § Hor. Epod. lib. ii. 



vi 



MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOE. 



withdrawn from the tm^moil and business of public life, 
addicted himself to those literary objects, of which only 
inconsiderable fragments remain, during those years of 
elegant leisure which were alternately spent in his Italian 
villas and magnificent palace at Rome. 

These remarks bear materially on the life of the subject 
of this Memoir. Even were our materials more abundant, 
our limits restrict us from doing more than touching 
on the prominent occurrences in the life, and sahent 
points of the character, of the author of the work to which 
this biographical sketch is prefixed. What is properly 
required in such a general sketch is, a portrait, as true in 
its lineaments as may be, of the individual whose character 
and habits it is proposed to describe. 

The Author of the following treatise was born at 
Allanton, in the county of Lanark, 20th October 1759. 
He was the second son''^' of James Steuart, tenth Baron 
of Allanton, (according to the usual form of Scottish de- 
signation,) and fourteenth in descent from the Lord High 
Steward of Scotland, who was great-grandfather of King 
Robert II., the first prince of the Stewart line. About 
the close of the thirteenth century, in the reign of Alex- 
ander III., Sir J ohn Stewart of Bonkle, or Bonkill, the 
son of Alexander the sixth, the said Lord High Steward 
of Scotland, bestowed the estate of Daldowie, on the river 
Clyde, part of his extensive possessions in Lanarkshire 
and Renfrewshire, in patrimony on his son Sir Robert, 
and was himself slain at the fatal battle of Falkirk, (1298,) 

* Sir Heuiy had two brothers and a sister, two of whom predeceased, and the 
youngest died a few years after, his father. Sir Henry seems to have inherited 
a taste for retirement, and literaiy and country pursu.its, from his father, who, 
as we learn fx^om Eobertson's edition of Crawford's ^/s^or?/ of Ren f rev: shire, "was 
eminent both as an agriculturist and a scholar, and gi-eatly improved his estate 
by enclosing and plantmg, which were begmning to become fashionable in his 
time in Scotland." 



MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 



Vll 



fighting against Edward I., with many others of the Scot- 
tish uobihtj. In the year 1314, Sir Robert most proba- 
bly fought at the glorious field of Bannockbrn-n, with the 
Lord High Steward and the rest of his family, under King 
Robert Bruce ; as we find from Hollinshed that in the 
following year he accompanied his three brothers, Sir 
Allan, Sir Walter, and Sir Hugh, in the expedition to Ire- 
land under Edward Bruce. He was also present at the 
battle of Dundalk in 1318, where that adventurous prince 
at leng-th terminated his career.* Su' Henry's mother 
was daughter of Henry Steuart-Barclay of Collernie, in 
the county of Fife, younger brother of Sir James Steuart 
Bart, of Goodtrees, (son of the Lord Advocate of that 
name,) M.P. for Mid-Lothian in the first parliament after 
the Union, and afterwards Solicitor General in the reign 
of George II. Of the issue of this marriage Sir Henry 
was the only surviving son, and representative of this 
ancient family. 

Of his early education, at this distance of time, few 
particulars can be mentioned. Having been brought up 

* " From the Steuarts of Allanton, (we quote from a document found among 
the papers of the late Sir Henry Steuai-t,) have sprung at different periods 
various considerable famihes of the name, among which are the Steuaai;s of 
Kirkfield and Coltness, those of Goodtrees, AUanbank, and Mitcham. It is 
worthy of notice, that there are four Baronetages in the family, including the 
grant, to be subsequently mentioned, to the eldest branch of it. 1st. That 
of Coltness, in the county of Lanark ; which branch is also descended fi'om the 
aforesaid James, and is now represented by General Sk James Denham Steuart, 
Bart., (since deceased) Colonel of the second Regiment of Dragoons. 2nd. 
That of Allanbank, in the coimty of Berwick ; which branch is descended from 
James sixth of Allanton, and eighth of Daldowie, who died a.d. 1607, and is 
now represented by Sir John Steuart Bart." — he has since that time been suc- 
ceeded by his son Sir James. *'3rd. That of Goodtrees, cotmty of Edinburgh ; 
which branch was descended and represented as last mentioned, ■ith. That 
of Allanton," of which mention will be made in the course of this Memoir. 
" It is a remarkable circumstance, that the three Baronetages first mentioned 
were bestowed upon the family by three Sovereigns of character considerably 
different, by James II., William III., and Queen Anne, and all in consideration 
of thek public services." 



Vlll 



MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 



at home during his earlier years, he was afterwards for 
some time placed at a seminary in his native county, then 
of considerable repute in that part of Scotland. Sir 
Henry (for we shall at once adopt the designation by 
which he was afterwards best known) was subsequently 
sent abroad to complete his education at Hamburg, which 
was then much frequented as a place of education by the 
children of the higher classes in Scotland. After remain- 
ing at this celebrated University for some years, where he 
imbibed the classical taste, and laid the foundation of those 
scholastic attainments, for which he was afterwards distin- 
guished, Sir Henry returned to Scotland (his father having 
died some years before) about the age of seventeen, and 
soon after procured, in the year 1778, a commission in the 
13th Light Dragoons, in which regiment he continued to 
serve for several years. He afterwards exchanged, in 1781, 
into the 10th Light Dragoons, and became aide-de-camp 
to General Sir James Steuart of Coltness — a younger 
branch, as already mentioned, of the family of AUanton. 
In this capacity Sir Henry accompanied his relative to 
Ireland, where Sir James had command of a district, in 
the disturbances of that country at the close of the last 
century. Whether Sir Henry had only intended, like 
many other young men both then and at present, to spend 
a few years in his Majesty's service, with the view per- 
haps of what may be termed finishing his education, pre- 
vious to settling down on his paternal estates, or whether 
a military life was unsuited to the literary tastes and 
retired habits of which he very early gave indications, we 
have not been informed. It is certain, however, that soon 
after his marriage, in 1787, he retired from the army and 
returned to Scotland, where he spent for the most part, 
with little interruption, the remaining years of his life, 
between his own paternal property at Allanton and his 



MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOE. ix 

brother-in-law's estate of Toucli-Seton, in the county and 
neighbourhood of StirHng. The family with which Sir 
Henry thus became aUied by marriage is one of great an- 
tiquity in Scotland, his lady being daughter of Hugh Seton, 
Esq. of Touch, hereditary armour-bearer, in right of his 
wife, to his Majesty for that kingdom. The family of 
Touch, or, as it is more properly termed, Touch-Seton, 
derive their origin from an ancestor who lived in the reign 
of Alexander I. of Scotland, son of Malcolm Oanmore, 
(1109.) This family was distinguished in Scottish History, 
and performed many loyal and gallant achievements 
during the wars of England and the various civil contests 
in Scotland. Sir Christopher, the descendant of Dugald 
Seton, the ancestor of the Touch family, became allied to 
the royal family of Scotland by his marriage with Chris- 
tian, sister to King Robert the Bruce ; from which alliance 
was descended Alexander, who was created Baron Seton 
de Gordon* in the year 1408. The Setons of Touch- 
Seton lay claim to the Barony of Seton de Gordon in 
right of their ancestor, on whom this title was conferred 
as above mentioned, and from whom they are lineally de- 
scended, t 

The house on the AUanton estate, which Sir Henry, 
shortly after his marriage, made his permanent residence, 
was an ancient castellated building, with a large tower 
for the purpose of defence, as was common at that 
period, which had been erected in the reign of James I. 
(1422,) by Sir Allan Steuart;]: on his return from France, 

* See Douglas' Peerage, vol. i. (fol.) p. 643. 

t This family is at present represented by Lady Seton Steuart, only surviving 
daughter of Sir Henry Steuart, who succeeded to the representation and estates 
of the family of Touch in the year 1835. 

Z "In the 8th of Eichard II. 1385," (we quote from the family manuscript 
already referred to,) " when that monarch invaded Scotland with an army of 
sixty thousand men, and burned Perth, Dundee, and other places. Sir Kobert's 
son Allan, and his grandson Sir Allan, then commanding a body of troops who 



X 



MEMOIE OF THE AUTHOR. 



and to which, from an enthusiastic attachment to the scene 
of his early valour, (as we learn from some ancient family 
manuscripts,) he removed from his then more romantic 
residence of Daldowie on the Clyde. Finding the more 
habitable part of this ancient fortress not only unsuited 
for a modern residence, but also in many parts dilapi- 
dated. Sir Henry, on his return to Scotland, resolved to 
remove the less secure parts of the building, with the 
exception of the tower, and erect a more modern mansion 
in its stead. Being unwilling, however, to remove the 
ancient tower or keep, he made arrangements to retain 
that portion of the fortress, and to connect it with the new 
buildings which he planned. On removing the other 
portions of the castle, this ancient tower was accidentally 
in some parts undermined, and was discovered, in con- 
sequence, to be afterwards so insecure that it likewise was 
obliged to be removed, together with the greater part of 

were on their march to join the Scottish army on the western borders, under 
the Earl of Douglas, encountered a strong detachment of the English, and 
gallantly attacked and defeated them, near Morningside in Lanarkshire. Allan 
the elder fell in the action, and was buried at a monastery near the spot. On 
account of his valour in this engagement, Sir Allan received from his kinsman 
King Kobert II. the honour of Knight Banneret, having been knighted under 
the royal standard at Lochmaben castle ; as also a special grant of the lion 
passant (the English lion) in addition to his coat armorial — a distinction pos- 
sessed by no other Stewart in Scotland. It was in like manner that the Earl of 
Surrey received the lion rampant (the lion of Scotland) in addition to his arms, 
on account of the battle of Flodden. This special grant by Kobert II. stood 
recorded m the Lion's Office, or Herald's Office of Scotland, so late as 1540, 
before the registers were destroyed by fire, as is attested by Sir David Lindsay 
of the Mount, the Lord Lion of that period. (See Cummyn's Collect. Art. Sir 
David Lindsay.) Some years after, Sir Allan obtained a grant of lands round 
the place, from the Abbot of Aberbrothic, the superior of the religious house of 
Benskiag, which he had been the means of protecting from the incursions of 
the English, and which he afterwards named after himself, Allanton, (Chart, 
in Archis. Fam. de Loudon,) and they have ever since continued in the posses- 
sion of his posterity. Morningside, or the ' place of many darts,' is the desig- 
nation of one of the farms on the estate of Allanton." On the spot where this 
engagement is said to have taken place, an ancient sword was some years since 
discovered, which is now in possession of the family of Allanton. 



MEMOIR OF TPIE AUTHOR. 



xi 



the building. Between the first and later additions to the 
house at Allanton, a period of about thirty years inter- 
vened ; and as these ^additions were made on a pretty 
extensive scale — though much of the ancient building still 
remains — this circumstance, together with the destruction 
of the tower, gives the present building rather a modern 
appearance. Other additions and improvements contem- 
plated by Sir Henry, wdth the view of making the mansion- 
house still more in keeping with the extensive improve- 
ments on the park surrounding it, which will be after- 
wards referred to, have not yet been carried into effect. 
It may also farther be mentioned, that the park at that 
time — the scene afterwards of his wonderful triumph of art 
over nature — was as little distinguished for beauty or 
improvement as it subsequently became celebrated for 
both these marks of distinction. To use the significant 
language of Sir Walter Scott at a subsequent period, 
— "The park at Allanton had then no pretensions to 
beauty, and wsisjust not ugly"'^ 

With his natural taste and energy of character. Sir 
Henry bent himself resolutely to the improvement of his 
property, and commenced at the same time a series of 
experiments on arboriculture, which more or less occupied 
his attention for upwards of forty years of his life. We 

* The old house at Allanton was on one occasion visited by no less a person 
than Oliver Cromwell. " It is recorded" (we learn from Crawford's History of 
Renfrewshire) " that Oliver Cromwell, in 1650, after the battle of Dunbar, in his 
progress through Lanarkshire, halted with a few attendants at Allanton House;, 
where he was hospitably entertained by Lady Steuart, and where he passed the 
night. Sir Walter, being a royalist, took care to be out of the way. On the 
Protector's arrival, as it is said, some choice canary and other refreshments 
were presented, but he would suffer nothing to be touched until he himself had 
first said grace, which he fervently did for more than half an hour, to the great 
edification of the lady ! He then courteously inquired after Sir Walter, and 
on drinking the health of the family, observed that ' his mother was a Steuart, 
and that he always felt a kindness for the name !' This, and sevei-al other 
characteristic anecdotes of the visit are still presei-ved." 



XII 



MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 



shall presently advert to the success which ultimately 
followed his repeated experiments in transplanting, to 
which object of rural improvement he latterly more parti- 
cularly confined his attention, after his property in general 
had been improved to as great an extent at least as was 
usual at that time, when a practical knowledge of agri- 
culture was neither so common, nor had attained the per- 
fection which at present it has reached. Accordingly Sir 
Henry devoted his attention, for the greater part of his 
life to the discovery of those principles of arboriculture, 
which could only be deduced from a long and careful 
practice of experiments, whose results are detailed in the 
following work. 

While employed, however, in making experiments in the 
park at AUanton , with a view of discovering the best 
system of transplanting, Sir Henry began to indulge his 
literary tastes, and one of his first publications was con- 
nected with a subject of great public interest — the most 
available means, namely, of supplying the Scottish metro- 
polis with coal — which was then beginning to be worked 
on an extensive scale in many parts of Lanarkshire. 
Considerable difference of opinion, about the commence- 
ment of the present century, prevailed respecting the best 
line for forming a junction canal for the conveyance of 
coal to Edinburgh and elsewhere ; and, "at the urgent 
request of many persons who were interested in this 
undertaking, Sir Henry published a pamphlet on this 
subject, in opposition to one which had previously ap- 
peared, and which advocated the adoption of a line which 
was not generally approved of by most of the coal pro- 
prietors in the county. Nor was this a question of mere 
local interest, but one of much practical importance to the 
country in general. Edinburgh, and many parts of Scot- 
land, particularly during the rigorous winters about the 



MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 



xiii 



close of the last century, were compelled to pay an exor- 
bitant price for coal ; and the object of Sir Henry's 
pamphlet \Yas to prove that, were a navigable canal carried 
from Edinburgh through the heart of the coal districts of 
Lanarkshire, coals, of a quality generally superior, could be 
brought to that city, for very little more than one-half of 
what was then paid for coal brought from its neighbour- 
hood. A further object which the author proposed, and 
whose practicability he also endeavoured to establish, was 
that of not merely supplying Ireland, the Isle of Man, 
and the southern coasts of Scotland with coal, but like- 
wise many of the foreign ports, at a less cost than, from 
various causes, could be probably done by the coal-masters 
of the south. It may be added, however, that other cir- 
cumstances intervened, which prevented the adoption of 
any of the different measures then proposed, which were, 
however, carried into effect in another form, at a much 
later period. 

About this time Sir Henry contemplated his first 
important literary undertaking, on which he was sedu- 
lously employed for several years — ^his translation, namely, 
of the principal remaining works of the Roman historian 
Sallust ; to which were prefixed two elaborate essays on the 
life and character of that historian, whom he justly 
describes as the father of philosophical history. This 
translation of Sallust, with the preliminary essays, was 
accompanied by a large body of notes, which discover a 
most extensive knowledge of classical literature, brought 
by the author to bear on and illustrate both the circum- 
stances of the Catiline conspiracy and Jugurthine war, 
and further, the motives and events of the Julian and 
Augustan periods. Before commencing this translation of 
a work which had already frequently appeared in an 
English form, Sir Henry had made himself thoroughly 



xiv 



MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 



conversant with the true principles of translation, which 
had been so fully and learnedly laid down and treated in 
a work of Lord Monboddo on that subject. These prin- 
ciples he states and defends in his prehminary essays ; and 
there is no question that we have presented to us, in his 
own admirable translation of Sallust, not only the true 
meaning, but the spirit of the author, conveyed with equal 
fidehty of version and eloquence of language. This work 
has always been distinguished for correctness of render- 
ing, elegance of diction, combined with clearness and 
nervousness of style. By the publication of this work, 
which appeared in 1806, Sir Henry at once attained a 
liigh place as an accomplshed scholar and author in the 
literary world. 

While employed on this work, Sir Henry usually spent 
the winter in Edinburgh, where he mixed with the lite- 
rary society for which the Scottish metropolis was then 
distinguished. He there became acquainted with most of 
the learned and scientific persons of the day, among whom 
may be mentioned the Honourable Henry Erskine,Dr Gre- 
gory, Professor Robison, Mr Alison, Lord Woodhouselee, 
and the well-known author of " The Man of Feeling,'' 
Henry Mackenzie, to whose father Sir Henry's mother 
had been married after the death of her first husband, 
which event occmTcd in 1772, during Sir Henry's resi- 
dence in Germany. After the completion of the prelimi- 
nary essays and notes to his translation of Sallust, Sir 
Henry transmitted the MS., previous to pubhcation, to 
Lord Woodhouselee, on the truth and justice of whose 
opinion of the work he could implicitly rely. The follow- 
ing extracts from a letter of Lord Woodhouselee, on 
retm-ning the MS., as containing the opinion of that 
accompHshed scholar, will not, we trust, be considered out 
of place : — 



MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 



XV 



" Edinburgh, l^th May 1798. 

" My Dear Sir, — I now return jon your very valuable 
manuscripts, together with a couple of sheets of such 
remarks as occm-red to me on a very attentive perusal of 
the whole. Of the general merits of the composition I 
have already told you that I think very highly ; and I am 
confident this preliminary dissertation will establish your 
reputation as a judicious biographer and able critic, as 
much as the work itself will rank you among the best of 
modern translators. The topics you have treated in this 
essay have aU of them sufficient connexion with the main 
subject to justify your introducing them ; and the points 
of controversy or of criticism which you have handled 
will be most acceptable to all men of letters, for whom 
your work is chiefly calculated. The topics yet remain- 
ing to be treated promise a rich field of pleasing dis- 
cussions; but I should fear, from the amplitude of some of 
the subjects, that they might run you into too great length 
for the due proportion that a preface ought to bear to the 
work it introduces. Of such nature is, — the progress of 
the Roman language — the idea of the Roman literature 
before Augustus — ancient historical composition — that 
of historical composition in the eighteenth centmy — clas- 
sical translation : all rich topics of discussion, and ample 
enough for so many separate dissertations. I am anxious, 
therefore, to see how you will contrive to range through 
so wide a field, and admire you for that ardour, and 
courageous spirit, which can impose on itself such a task 
as the achievement of such high and perilous adventures. 

" Yours ever, with most sincere regard, 
"Alex. Fraser Tytler." 



XYi MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 

We make no apology for inserting the following jeu 
d' esprit of Mr Mackenzie, the author of " The Man of 
Feeling," which bears the date of several years later, as it 
will at once, perhaps, serve to show the terms on which 
the literary men of that period lived, and also because 
nothing from the pen of that distinguished writer can fail 
to be read with interest. We are not aware that this 
lively effusion has ever previously appeared. The follow- 
ing note accompanied the lines in question : — 

" Heriot Row, Wednesday Morning, 21th November 1804. 

" My Dear Sir, — I regret much I have not met with 
the ladies, or you, since your return to town. I meant to 
call again to-day, but am afraid I shall be kept too late 
in the Exchequer. I send, therefore, this note, and the 
subjoined jeu d'esprit, to pay my respects in my stead. 
When you borrowed my ink on Monday evening, the 
young folks amused themselves with the idea of the very 
different use it would be put to from those to which I com- 
monly applied it. This idea was bandied about a good 
deal. I fell asleep with my inkstand on the table ; its 
mouth was open ; and in my dream it spoke as follows : — 

Ink — loquitur. 

Your friends, the Baron's, t'other day, > 
Abused me in a scurvy way, 

Because my face was white ; 
And said the characters I drew 
Were always, or at least when new, 

Faint, feeble, lost to sight. 

But now I beg my brother Pen, 
To tell those honorable men 

'Tis quite a different thing ,* 
My colour's strong, my credit higher, 
To other service I aspire. 

Than when I served the King.* 

* The King's printer had been complained of fof the paleness of the ink 
with which he furnished the Tax Office and the Exchequer, 



MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 



xvii 



So high my reputation stands. 
The historic muse my aid demands 

To bid her laurels bloom ; 
And Steiiart and Sallust now combine 
In many a smooth and nervous line 

To bid me speak of Rome ! 

I, who was only used to write 
Of Income-Tax, and Windoiv- Light, 

In many a weary column. 
Shall now be call'd upon to tell 
How Tidly spoke, how Catiline fell, 

In strains sublime and solemn. 

Instead of horses, grooms, and gigs, 
And 'powder-tax for lawyers' wigs, 

And puppies just of age, 
The fate of empires and of kings, 
And other such majestic things, 

Shall live upon my page. 

Then cease, my Lords, to brand my face 
With such unmerited disgrace, 

Since now I'm proud to know 
The characters I trace shall stand, 
And through at least the British land 

To other times shall go. 

" I am always, whether in prose or rhyme, my dear sir, 
most faithfully yours, 

H. Mackenzie/' 

This translation of Sallust, with the preliminary disser- 
tations and notes, was published by Baldwin & Co., 
London, in the year 1806, in two large quarto volumes, 
and is now out of print. To the literary world a new 
and less costly edition would doubtless give much satis- 
faction, as it still retains its position as the best transla- 
tion of any of the classical authors, accompanied by much 
important information on subjects connected with Roman 
history, which has appeared in our times. It is to be 
regretted, however, that this was the only publication of 
the kind which was published by Sir Henry, whose close 
application to literary pursuits for the preceding ten years 

c 



XVlll 



MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 



of his life had so materially affected his health, that he 
was obhged, bj the advice of the late Dr Gregory, his 
principal raedical adviser, to employ himself in more active 
out-of-door occupations, with the view of restoring and 
preserving his health. A constitutional tendency to severe 
headachs, increased by his sedentary habits, induced Sir 
Henry accordingly to devote his attention more closely 
than ever to his favourite employment of transplanting, 
which, as already remarked, more or less occupied him 
during the remainder of his life. He occasionally, how- 
ever wrote for the Anti- Jacobin, and other leading perio- 
dicals of the day; and among his papers are to be found 
several uncompleted manuscripts, ranging in theu^ dates 
from the publication of Sallust through a period of 
upwards of twenty years, consisting of a History of the 
Rebellion of 1745, the commencement of a History of 
Scotland, and several astronomical and other works. At 
a considerably later period he contributed many of the 
materials which he had collected for his History of the 
RebeUion to Mr Chambers, for his interesting " J acobite 
Memoirs'' of that period, published in 1834. 

Soon after his translation of Sallust was made public, 
Sir Henry received the honorary degree of LL.D. from a 
Scottish university, and also about the same period was 
appointed a Fellow of the Royal and Antiquarian Socie- 
ties of Edinburgh. In 1814, he was created a baronet 
of Great Britain, the patent bearing date 27th December 
1814, with remainder to his only daughter and son-in- 
law Reginald Macdonald of Staffa, Esq., and their heirs 
male. From a manuscript history of the family, quoted 
in Crawford's " History of Renfrewshire," in an edition 
pubhshed by Robertson in 1818, we learn that, in the 
year 1687, the offer of a baronetage was made to Sir 
Henry's ancestor, William Steuart of AUanton, through 



MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 



xix 



tlie interest of his brotlier-in-law Sir James Steuart, a 
younger son of the Steuarts of Ooltness, then secretary of 
state in the reign of James II., and, on his declining it, it 
was given to his cousin Sir Robert Steuart of AUanbank. 

We come now, after passing over an interval of several 
years, during which Sir Henry was occupied with his ex- 
periments in arboriculture, and the creation, as we may 
term it, of the Park at AUanton, to the publication of the 
first edition of the "Planter's Guide," in 1828. It is 
foreign to the object of this memoir to enter upon any of 
the details of Sir Henry's new system of Transplanting, 
especially as this has been sufficiently done in the work 
itself, in the report of the Highland Agricultural Society, 
(a deputation from which waited upon Sir Henry at 
AUanton,) and in the several leading periodicals, namely, 
the Quarterly, Edinburgh, and Westminster Reviews, and 
also in Blackwood's Magazine, in all of which the author 
received the highest commendations.*" The Report of the 
Highland Society (among the members of whose deputa- 
tion we find the names of Lord Belhaven, Lord Core- 
house, and Sir Walter Scott) is appended to both the 
former and the present editions of the " Planter's Guide," 
and contains a full though succinct statement of the 
improvements in the Park at AUanton, towards the close 
of the year 1823. After a careful inspection of Sir 
Henry's whole plan of operations, and the result of his 
repeated experiments since nearly the commencement of 
the century, the committee closed their Report with the 
foUowing remarks, expressive of their high approval of the 
new system and its results : — " Upon the whole, it is 

* Sir Walter Scott contributed the admirable article which appeared in the 
Quarterly Review, March 1828; and the equally able review of the "Planter's 
Gviide " in BlackicoocV s Magazine, during the same year, was from the pen of 
Professor Wilson. Dr Southwood Smith was the author of the article in the 
Westminster Review about the same period. 



XX 



MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 



humbly their opinion, that Sir Henry, by philosophical 
attention to the nature of the change to which he was 
about to subject the trees which he has transplanted, has 
attained, at no extravagant expense, the power so long 
desired of anticipating the slow progress of yegetation, 
and accomplishing, within two or three seasons, those 
desirable changes on the face of nature, which he who 
plants in early youth can, in ordinary cases, only hope to 
witness in advanced life." 

This high approval was further confirmed at a later 
period by the presentation of a gold medal to Sir Henry, 
by the members of the Highland Society, on the pubhca- 
tion of the "Planter's Guide,'' in 1828.''' From many other 
quarters. Sir Henry received similar expressions of appro- 
bation, and applications from many of the nobility and 
gentry of the United Kingdom, to assist them with his 
advice in their contemplated improvements on his system. 
Among other correspondents, he had frequent communica- 
tion with Sir Walter Scott, who had reviewed his work of 
transplanting, in a most favourable manner, in one of the 
leading periodicals. So far back as the year 1823, we 
find Sir Henry corresponding with Sir Walter, and both 
these distinguished arboriculturists mutually comparing 
notes and exchanging information on a subject so interest- 
ing to both parties. We have before us a long letter 
from Sir Walter Scott, to his friend Sir Henry, dated 23d 
February 1823, fully describing Sir Walter's operations 
at Abbotsford, with the results of his experiments, from 
which our limits prevent our quoting at large, as we could 
otherwise have wished. The letter concludes as follows : 

* The Gold Medal presented to Sir Henry, by the Highland Society, bears 
the following inscription Presented to Henry Steuart, of Allanton, Bart. 
LL.D., F.R.S.E. &c. with the resolution of a general Meeting of the Highland 
Society of Scotland, votmg to him the thanks of the Society, for his essay on 
transplanting full-grown trees, 8th January, 1828." 



MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 



xxi 



— " I cannot flatter myself that any thing I have said can 
be very interesting to yon. Most of my neighbours go to 
work in the barbarous old way of lopping, and topping, 
and planting many deformed and maimed pollards by way 
of beauty, on which subject, I cry like Wisdom in the high- 
ways, and am not regarded. I would rather have a 
decayed tree, than a deficient one ; as some beau said he 
would choose rather to have a hole in his stocking than a 
darn ; the one might be negligence, the other inforcjd 
premeditated and confessed poverty. I am happy to 
think that your discoveries may prevent botli extremities, 
and am, dear Sir Henry, your obliged humble servant, 

"Walter Scott.'' 

"Edinburgh, 23£^ February 1823." 

However much Sir Henry and Sir Walter Scott 
agreed in the main, they difl'ered slightly in some points 
both in the theory and practice of transplanting, as is 
evident from some of the statements in an essay on 
the planting of waste lands, by Sir Walter, which 
appeared in the seventy-second number of the Quarterly 
Review. In the notes towards the close of the Second 
Edition of the " Planter's Guide,"when defending Sir Walter 
against some attacks that had been made upon him by 
Mr Withers, Sir Henry, however, describes this essay as, 
"independently of its other merits, one of the most 
powerful, judicious, and useful practical tracts existing in 
the language. From the singularly rapid way," he adds, 
" in which the great author is known to write, and from 
the circumstance of his professing no accurate knowledge 
of phytology, it cannot seem wonderful that some errors, 
both in the theory and the practice, should have crept into 
the essay." Besides any slight differences of opinion on 
the subject of transplanting, between these two practical 



XXll 



MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOE. 



improvers, there existed another reason wliicli accounted 
for Sir Walter's inability to carry out fully the system at 
Abbotsford recommended in the " Planter's Guide." As 
the following letter from the author of Waverley, to his 
friend Sir Henry, presents an interesting account of the 
improvements at Abbotsford, and as Sir Henry had ob- 
tained permission from the author to make any use of it 
which he might deem proper in a future edition of his 
wort, we feel convinced that we shall both gratify and in- 
terest our readers by its insertion. 

"Abbotsfoed, 19t7i September. 

" My Dear Sir Henry, — It would be most creditable 
to me, if I had any thing to offer in the way of evidence 
which could serve to illustrate your very elaborate and 
effectual process of transplanting, which I consider as a 
discovery of the last importance. But the situation of this 
place has only permitted me to make rude and unsys- 
tematic attempts ; and the partial success they have obtained 
is far from what I am convinced would have been the result, 
if I had had means and motives for setting about the task 
regularly. The following is what I have been doing here, 
but I fear it is not worthy of insertion in the notes to yom^ 
ingenious essay. About 1812, I became proprietor of this 
place, which may consist of fifteen hundred acres ; some 
part croft land, severely handled by the plough, some hill 
and dale, rough moorland. Commencing near my house, I 
made considerable plantations every year; and purchased, I 
suppose, about five hundred acres, woodland, in very respect- 
able order. I fell into the great error of planting my 
hard wood trees greatly too thick, which led me first to 
think of transplanting. There was a walk by the side of 
the Tweed, which I wished much to adorn with trees. I 
lifted in 1814-15, a number of young trees for this pur- 



MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 



XXIU 



pose, with the old accommodation of a ball of earth to 
each, attending scrupiiloiislj to the vulgar rule of planting 
them in the same relation to the points of the compass 
which they had originally held, but which accuracy, I am 
now persuaded, is matter of superstition, not of sound 
doctrine. 

" The transplanted trees were much exposed to the 
north-west, which is our prevailing wind, and they were 
not in any way staked or supported, neither was a branch 
of any of them cut off, as — in despite of a number of 
respectable examples — I have always thought a mutilated 
tree rather uglier than none at all ; the soil was a very 
stijff sand, the trees were of all sorts, such as they came to 
hand, it might be about eight years old. For three or 
fom^ years, the greater part of the trees rather languished, 
and some, though few, died. Far the gTeater part of these 
trees lived — but, for the first two or three years, they had 
a very unhealthy appearance, many branches withered, and 
the stems sent out short twigs and leaves, which seems 
always a symptom of weakness. They gradually recovered 
however, and in five or six years began to look well ; but 
it was eight or ten years before they began to grow vigor- 
ously : they are now healthy, strong trees, and seem to be 
thriving very well. About the same time, I transplanted 
into a better soil, and with more care, a few trees about 
the house ; these never went bach, as it is called, but 
throve from the beginning, and are now large trees of 
their age. 

About five years ago, you very obligingly called my 
attention to the subject, and greatly interested me by 
describing your process. I could not, however, make any 
regular attempt to imitate it, for I had no subjects fit for 
transplantation. I had indeed, many thousands of trees, 
which I wished elsewhere, but they were exactly those which. 



xxiv 



MEMOIE OF THE AUTHOR. 



growing in the shelter of extensive plantations, were not of 
that hardy character which jour system requires as fit sub- 
jects of experiment. I caused numbers of them to be cut 
round, however, and transplanted with bare roots, and 
turning the lea side to the weather. They stood the winds 
very well. In a sheltered place at the bottom of a bank, 
about ten or a dozen throve amazingly ; they hardly seemed 
to acknowledge a change of situation. In more exposed 
situations they did very well the first and second years, 
but several in the third year became unsightly, with 
withered boughs, and I have cut them over. In none of 
these cases of failure do I consider your system as having 
had fair-play, a^ the trees were thin in the stem, taU, and 
the exact reverse of what they should have been. I believe 
however, they could all, or almost all, have succeeded to a 
considerable extent, but for the drought of the season ^ 
1816. A small fish-pond gave facility for watering those 
which were planted beside it, and not one of them was 
lost. I am, therefore, led to the same conclusion to which' 
Count Rumford was conducted in investigating the food of 
the poor — namely, that there is much sustenance in water 
alone. Besides these attempts, I took a more irregular, 
nay, almost desperate mode of thinning my hardwood 
plantations. Besides cutting down what I designed for 
underwood, I transferred several hundreds with little 
ceremony to a sheep pasture covered with whins, and took 
no other precaution than causing them to be carefully 
planted and trod in — choosing places where the fm:ze might 
defend them against the sheep. This can hardly be called 
transplanting trees, properly so caUed, for they are only 
young plants of from six to ten feet high. They have 
thriven very weU, though in a manner abandoned to their 
fate. I do not beheve that there have been lost ten out of 
a hundred, or any thing like it. I would advise any gen- 



MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 



XXV 



tleman to try this course with phiuts which he intends to 
cast away. 

None of these operations bear much on jour subject ; 
but it is only the local circumstances of this place which 
have prevented me from trying yoiu' system in a regular 
manner. The ground is bank and brae, all covered 
with plantations, and admitting few situations where single 
trees would be an object. I have no subjects fit for trans- 
plantation, unless I make a nursery ; and my predecessors 
having done nothing for me, I have not, like you at Al- 
lanton, any clumps or stripes which can be converted to 
that pm-pose. At an extremity of the property, indeed, 
there is the remains of a natural oak wood, but besides 
that I believe the trees are stock-roots, and therefore not 
to be easily raised, they are too heavy to be dealt with, 
without more expense than I care at present to employ. 

"So that, on the whole, I may say video Queliora, &c. 
I am fully convinced of the superiority of your plan 
to any which I have hitherto had occasion to observe. 
But my plan has been laid to avoid the necessity of 
transplantation entirely. To make myself understood, 
I must mention that the house is, contrary to the usual 
custom, contiguous to the garden. It fronts a court-yard 
filled with shrubs, and as many trees of about fifteen feet 
high as afibrd a good chance for those which may be 
permitted to stand as single trees. On the other side of 
the court-yard wall runs a pretty steep bank which is 
covered with thriving plantations about fifteen years old. 
The same bank rmis westward about half a mile, and is 
completely planted all along its extent. On the north 
side of the house there is another steep bank, with planta- 
tions running down to the Tweed, which is also completely 
flourishing, and in a situation to be opened into green, or 
shut up as thicket, as taste may determine. Below lies a 



xxyi 



MEMOin OF THE AUTHOE. 



piece of haugh or meadow, which is surrounded on three 
sides by plantations, and it is on tliat flat space only that 
there might be room for exercising your beautiful art. 
But the meadow is too small to admit of many trees 
without looking spotty ; and the bank of the riyer which 
surrounds it on the fourth side, is fringed with the trans- 
planted trees first noticed. Thus I could not find room 
for full-grown trees, without displacing those already 
rapidly advancing into the state I could wish them. They 
already aff'orded both shelter and amenity ; and I am more 
interested in thinning them out properly, than in the 
wish of adding to them. The fact is, I am looking 
forward to cutting my way out of a forest, while most 
proprietors have to transplant or grow. 

" I haye been thus tedious in explaining my own situa- 
tion, that I may giye some reasons for the seeming incon- 
gruity of highly approving your system without practising 
it upon any extent, and consequently without being fitted 
either with tools or machinery. You will observe that 
I have no park, or any thing approaching" to the name. I 
sate down on a hill-side, even a bare one ; but now, I am 
proud to say, covered with wood of my own planting, of 
about sixteen years' growth, and as thriving as any in this 
country. 

" The sum of this unsatisfactory evidence is, that my 
nearest approach to your system has been when I trans- 
planted young trees, often unfavourable subjects, after 
their roots had been cut over twelve or eighteen months, 
and have added a little manure to the extremity of the 
roots when they are transferred to their new situations ; 
but I have never lifted a tree thicker than a man's leg, or 
what I would consider as favoui-able as to bark and 
branches. On the other hand I have never been guilty 
of topping or lopping, which I consider as a cruelty ; nor 



MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOE. 



xxvii 



of lifting a ball of earth which I regard as an error, since 
it makes the tree roll like a bowl in a socket ; nor have I 
minded its direction to the points of the compass, other- 
wise than to reyerse them in its new situation, and so 
balance the tree properly. The larger the trees I have 
raised, I have judged it necessary to follow your system 
the more closely ; where they were small, I used them with 
less ceremony. If I had to translate a very large tree, I 
would think my principal chance of success would be in 
following your precepts exactly. The expense so far as 
I went was a matter of very little consequence ; but I kept 
no exact account of it, nor would it be easy to do so. I 
remain, my dear preceptor in woodcraft, your idle but 
grateful scholar, W. Scott. 

" If any part of this can be useful in your excellent 
treatise, pray consider yourself as entitled to use it as 
you will. But I fear it is too loose practice to pass to 
record. I am so blind, that the manuscript when trans- 
ferred to the press will need much correction.'' 

Did our limits permit us, we are enabled to give many 
important extracts from letters of Sir Henry's friends and 
general correspondents, both expressing their approval of his 
work on transplanting, and of the success which attended 
the practical application of the principles of his system in 
different parts of Great Britain and Ireland ; presenting 
very different climates and soils, and various degrees of 
exposure. From Lord Lowther, in Dec. 1828, he received 
a communication relative to the improvement of the royal 
forests, with the view of applying his system to the im- 
provement of that portion of the possessions of the crown. 
The Honourable Mr Stuart Wortley, writing from Wortley 
Hall in 1832, describes himself as perfectly satisfied with 



xxviii 



MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 



the success of Sir Henry's system, wliicli lie had adopted 
in the park, and other parts of the domain at Wortlej. 
A correspondent of the late Mr Elliot Lockhart mentions 
also, in a letter dated April 1828, which was transmitted 
to Sir Henry, that he had acted on the principles of the 
"Plaoter's Guide" under the direction of one of Sir Henry's 
people with entire success. " 1 think," he concludes, "my 
gardener, who was in attendance both days, will now be 
quite up to the process. I am sure," he adds, "Sir Henry 
must be highly flattered with the reyiew of his book, and 
the eulogy on his operations, contained in the last Quar- 
terly Review." From numerous other quarters, similar 
attestations were received of the value of Sir Henry's 
work, which, as we have already mentioned, our limits for- 
bid us to insert. 

We have alluded above, to the employment of one of 
Sir Henry's people by Mr Elliot Lockhart's correspondent ; 
and we would now fm^ther remai'k that several of his 
workmen, and others who had been long trained in his 
service in transplanting at AUanton, were permitted by 
Sir Henry to visit various parts of England and Ireland, 
for the purpose of showing more efficiently the practical 
working of the system.'" The following letter from C. W. 

H n, Esq. on the return of some of Sir Henry's people 

from Ireland, may properly be here inserted, as both show- 
ing how beneficial their services had proved in that country, 
and as illustrative of a favourite project of Sir Henry's, 
to which we shall presently advert. 

* Among the places to wliicli Sir Henry's men had been sent in Ireland, were 
the following : — The seats of Mr Shaw, the Recorder of Dublin — Lord de 
Vesci, Queen's Coimty — Lord Duncannon, Kilkenny — Colonel Bruin, comity 
Carlow — The Bishop of Clogher — and Marquis of Sligo. Li Scotland, Sn- David 
Bahd, of Newbeith — The seat of the Honourable Douglas Gordon, Halhburton 
— Captain Barclay of Uiy — Mr Pringle of the Haining — and Mr Stirling of 
Keir. 



MEMOIR OF THE AUTIIOK. 



xxix 



^ " 37 DoMiNicK Street, 2d Ap^il 1830. 

My Dear. Sir, — It is with great regret that I feel 
myself unable to write you as long a letter as I could 
wish. Turner'"' and his men arrived here this morning, 
and intend to sail for Scotland on Monday. Nothing 
could be more satisfactory than the manner in which they 
have conducted themselves. I inclose you three of the 
letters I received from strangers expressing their opinion.f 
For those among my own friends who have employed 
them, I can answer myself. I was much amused at the 
terror which Purdie showed at the idea of coming among 
the wild Irish, but Turner will be able to give a better 
account of us to our friends in the Land o' Cakes. I 
sliall also inclose a few prospectuses of our society, and 
hope you may be able to do something for us. All our 
success depends upon our being soon known and made 
use of as a centre of information. . . . Your atten- 
tion seems to have been lately turned to trenching and 
potato culture as preparation. Could you not give us 
some little communication on that subject, as accurately 
compared with the T method, which is the other extreme 
as to expense '? Excuse this hasty line, and believe me 
most faithfully yours, 

«C. W. H N." 

The society to which reference is made in the above 
letter, and of which prospectuses were sent to Sir Henry, 
was entitled the " Foresting Society for Ireland," which 
seems to have resembled Sir Henry's favourite project of 
a "society for the improvement of arboriculture exclu- 
sively," whose institution he has strongly advocated in 

* One of Sir Henry's head men trained at Allanton. 

+ This opinion was highly satisfactory both as regards the system and its 
results. 



XXX 



MEMOIE OF THE AUTHOR. 



the first section of his work, and in the notes on that 
section at the end of the vokime.''' His friend Sir Walter 

* It may be important, perhaps, to insert here the objects of this Irish 
Foresting Society, with its rules and regulations contained in the prospectus to 
which allusion has been made in the text. 

"FORESTING SOCIETY FOR IRELAND. 

Patron — his excellency the duke oe Northumberland. 
President — his grace the duke of leinster. 

" At a meeting held on the 23d July 1829, his grace the duke of leinster in 
the chair, the following were adopted as the rules and regulations of the society : — 

"1st. That this society shall be designated the 'Foresting Society of Ireland;' 
the object of which shall be to collect, embody, and diffuse scientific informa- 
tion relative to the forming of plantations, care and management of wooded 
lands in Ireland. 

" 2d. That each subscriber of £3 annually shall be a member of the society. 

" 3d. That each subscriber of £20 within one year, shall be a member for life. 

"4th. That a committee of fifteen members, together with the honorary 
of&cers of the society, shall be appointed at each annual meeting to conduct 
the business of the society, three of whom shall be a quorum. 

" 5th. That an annual meeting of the society shall be held in Dublin in the 
month of June, at which the report of the committee, and a statement of the 
accounts, verified by three auditors, shall be presented. 

"6th. That the minutes of every general and committee meeting shall be 
signed by the chairman. 

" 7th. That all drafts for payment shall be signed by three members of the 
committee, and the secretary. 

" TJie ohjects of the society are, 

" 1st. To establish an office in a public and central situation in Dublin, where 
members of the society may apply for information. 

"2d. To keep in this office tools as patterns, and models of machmery 
adapted to Foresting, of the best and most improved description. 

" 3d. To collect in this office a library of the best books upon the subject of 
Foresting. 

" 4th. To engage a scientific agent to attend at the office between the hours 
of eleven o'clock in the morning, and six in the evening, for the purpose of 
conducting correspondence, and of collecting and communicating to members 
information on the subject, both personally and by letter. 

" 5th. To open an extensive correspondence, both at home, and with those 
foreign countries from which the society may expect to derive any information. 

" 6th. To promote the science of Foresting by the occasional publication of 
matter connected with it. 

" 7th. To become the means (without, however, any direct agency,) of estab- 
lishing in Ireland a body of scientific Foresters. 

" 8th. To become the means of promoting the employment of a large num- 
ber of the peasantry in Forestmg occupations. 



MEMOTK OF THE AUTHOR. 



xxxi 



Scott, with whom he corresponded on this subject, while 
he approved of the object, does not seem to have been so 
sanguine as Sir Henry as to its success. Writing in 
January 1828, Sir Walter remarks: — ^"A society of 
arboriculturists would be very valuable. But such pro- 
prietors usually reside upon their estates in remote corners 
of the country ; and there would be found practical diffi- 
culties in getting them to hold frequent meetings, and 
adopt a joint mode of conducting experimental opera- 
tions. At the same time, I agree with you that, if such 
an association could be formed, it might succeed — if 
managed under the influence of some man of predomi- 
nant sense, experience, and habits of observation. With- 
out such an influence to keep a society's attention bent on 
its proper object, it would, I fear, wander into trifling 
and trumpery details, as has happened to Agricultural 
Societies, Literary Societies, Antiquarian Societies, and, 
I think, most others, which are like Sir Andrew Ague- 
cheek's system of philosophy, confined to good eating and 
drinking. . . . But as my habits are not gregarious, 
I will readily own I may be mistaken." 

As, however, Sir Henry's opinions on all subjects con- 
nected with arboriculture have invariably, as has appeared, 
been followed by practical success, we are much incKned 
to indulge a hope that an institution of the nature recom- 
mended in the following work, and established in Ireland, 
may yet, ere long, be formed, without degenerating into 
either a mere trifling or gregarious assembly, such as the 
author of Waverley seems to have humorously appre- 
hended. The little attention which has been given for 
several years past to the object whose principles and 
practical details are presented in the " Planter's Guide," 
may, perhaps, in no small degree, have been owing to the 
want of such an institution, and the information there 



xxxii 



MEMOIE OF THE AUTHOE. 



imparted, with the combined operations of all the 
members of such an association. We trust that some 
attention will hereafter be given to this very important 
object, and favourite project of Sir Henry. 

For several years after the publication of the " Planter's 
Guide,'' AUanton was visited from all quarters by persons 
interested in the new system of transplanting ; as also by 
tourists and others who were desirous of gratifying their 
curiosity with the view of a place which had been actually 
re-created by the wonderful and successful improvements 
of the proprietor. Scarcely a day passed without the 
arrival of some visitor, to whom, according to circum- 
stances, either Sir Henry or some of his people pointed 
out the improvements on the park at Allanton. But the 
formation of a park by the removal of large trees did not 
form the only important feature in the landscape. During 
the winter of 1819-20, Sir Henry had employed nearly 
two hundred of the unemployed weavers in forming an 
extensive piece of water in the centre of the grounds, 
which, combined with the woods that on all sides sur- 
round it, increases in no small degree the picturesque 
beauty of the park. The employment of so many dis- 
tressed manufacturers in a period of general depression and 
disturbance, reflected the highest credit as much on the wise 
and benevolent feelings of Sir Henry, as it must prove a 
lasting monument of the proprietor's taste in the embel- 
lishment of his demesne. It is by such acts of kindly 
beneficence, combined with taste and utility, that a country 
proprietor not merely endears himself to his people, but 
also, in addition to the benefit which the district derives 
from his taste and exertions, those feelings of subordina- 
tion and dutiful respect are cemented and maintained, 
which justly entitle a resident proprietor to be esteemed 
the benefactor of his people and the country at large. 



MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 



XXXIU 



In the year 1833, a somewhat curious, and, to Sir 
Henrj, interesting circumstance occurred, the presenta- 
tion, namely, of a copy of his work, which had recently 
appeared in America, by the publisher himself, who unex- 
pectedly made his appearance at AUanton in the com- 
mencement of that year, being then on a visit to this 
country. The American publisher of the Planter's Guide 
was a son of the celebrated Grant Thorburn, the original 
of Laurie Todd, and the subject of one of Gait's novels. 
The repeated clearings which had ultimately disfigured 
many parts of the United States, came at length to require 
not only a more sparing employment of the axe, but con- 
strained the Americans to resort to some system of trans- 
planting for the embellishment and shelter of their bare and 
unwooded domains. A work like the Planter's Guide 
appeared very seasonably at such a juncture, and the 
spirited descendant of Laurie Todd reprinted the first 
edition*of Sir Henry's Essay, which obtained an extensive 
circulation in the United States. Perhaps, such an 
opening for the dissemination of his opinions and intro- 
duction of his system, would have been among the last 
which could have occurred to Sir Henry ; and the cir- 
cumstance, as may well be supposed, gave him the 
highest satisfaction. 

About the commencement of the following year, the 
father of Sir Henry's American publisher. Grant Thorburn, 
as already mentioned the original of Gait's Laurie Todd, 
who had left Scotland in early life, and had amassed con- 
siderable property in business in New York, arrived him- 
self at AUanton. He was in height about five feet, stout, 
and rather deformed from an accident, very lively and 
amusing. He is stated to have drunk no wine, but 
indulged in the national practice to a great extent, as he 
was in the habit of smoking about five times a-day. He 

d 



xxxiv 



MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 



remained at Allanton till the following morning, and 
repeatedly expressed his regret that, in consequence of 
Sir Henry being obliged to leave home soon after his 
arrival, he was unable sufficiently to express the high 
estimation in which the Planter's Guide was held by him- 
self and his countrymen, especially at New York. Several 
members of his family had devoted much of their attention 
to planting, having become extensive seedsmen in the 
United States. Some American seeds of indigenous 
plants were subsequently transmitted to Sir Henry by 
the Thorburns from New York. 

We remarked, in the commencement of this Memoir, 
that it was only our intention to present a few of the 
principal incidents in Sir Henry's life, and, if possible, to 
give a slight sketch of his character, so far at least as the 
materials in our possession would enable us to do so. In 
a life so useful, but at the same time so uneventful, as that 
of the subject of this Memoir, it was difficult to di^aw up 
a sketch such as we proposed ; and we fear we may not 
have succeeded in rendering the preceding details inter- 
esting to the general reader, especially in the absence of 
any copies of Sir Henry's correspondence with the nume- 
rous distinguished and literary characters whose letters on 
various interesting subjects remain still in possession of 
his family. Sir Henry was in the invariable habit of de- 
stroying, from time to time, all copies of his own corres- 
pondence, and for so slight a Memoir as that designed to 
be prefixed to this work, it was considered unnecessary to 
make any attempt to procure the originals or copies of his 
letters, if any such exist, from the families of his numerous 
correspondents. The want of such materials for a biogra- 
phical Memoir is the more sensibly experienced, when a 
sketch of the character of the individual who forms its 
subject is proposed to be given ; particularly when the bio- 



JSLEMOIll OF THE AUTHOE. 



XXXV 



grapher has not been intimately acquainted with the sub- 
ject whose history he has undertaken, however slightly, to 
sketch. For we conceive it to be the duty of a biographer 
to make the subject of his Memoir portray, if possible, in 
his own language a character of himself. This may to a 
certain extent be performed by his biographer, when no 
materials exist for enabling the subject of his Memoir to 
draw his own portrait, provided he has lived on terms of 
personal friendship, or at least general acquaintance, with 
him whose history he writes. As the author of this Me- 
moir has not enjoyed either of these advantages, he must 
endeavour, from such information as he can recall or 
collect, to draw up a slight portrait of Sir Henry, which, 
from his well-known character, there is less difficulty in 
effecting. 

The author of this Memoir — to commence with his own 
recollections — well remembers the last occasion on which 
he saw Sir Henry, in company with the Baronet^s relative, 
General Sir James Steuart, whom he accompanied on a 
visit to AUanton from Coltness. This occurred a few 
years previous to Sir Henry's death ; and a distinct recol- 
lection is stili retained of the appearance and urbanity of 
the author of this work, presenting a fine instance of the 
high though easy manners of the old school, accompanied 
by the graceful deportment of ancient descent and intel- 
lectual culture, with a natural mildness and kindness in 
his general bearing and demeanour, for which Sir Henry 
was usually distinguished. Unruffled calmness and natu- 
ral dignity of deportment, which seems to place a natural 
restraint on every disposition to sudden sallies of temper 
or unusual excitement, is conceived to be the proper 
results of the highest polish of which manner is capable; 
and these results were particularly observable in Sir 
Henry. It would be difficult perhaps at any period to 



xxxvi 



MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOK. 



fix upon a character wliicli possessed to so great an extent 
those qualities, which are more frequently looked for than 
discovered in the titled or landed aristocracy of this 
country. Such qualities at once mark the gentleman and 
dignify the man. 

But it is not alone, or chiefly, in the sunshine of pros- 
perity that the moral qualities of any individual can be 
best drawn forth and properly estimated ; the true cha- 
racter often lies hid beneath the surface, and its worth or 
its hoUowness are best tested and known in the day of 
adversity. Happily for man, uninterrupted prosperity is 
not destined to be always his lot ; and there is nothing so 
beneficial as occasional affliction to assign its true impress 
to the character, either to present it in its undisguised 
features, or to separate all baser alloy from its intrinsic 
worth. When the clouds of any such human vicissitudes 
occasionally dimmed Sir Henry's horizon, they served 
only happily to show with what dignity and consistency a 
character of so much solid worth was enabled to encoun- 
ter, endure, and surmount them. Such occasional muta- 
tions are of inestimable value to impart the last finish to 
the portrait which is susceptible of their touch ; and all 
who knew the subject of this Memoir, will admit that he 
stood the final test to which all more or less are subjected. 

Sir Henry's society was much prized among the gentry 
of his neighbourhood. Among these, we may mention 
the late and present Dukes of Hamilton, Lord Corehouse, 
Lord Belhaven, the late Sir Alexander Cochrane, Lady 
Ross Baillie, and the late Sir Charles and Lady Mary 
Ross of Balnagown. Though in his general habits dissi- 
milar from many of his country neighbours and acquain- 
tances, he still both attained and secured their friendship 
and esteem. As a deputy-Heutenant and justice of the 
peace, he at all times actively exerted himself, as also 



MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 



xxxvii 



was greatly distinguished, bj his services during the militia 
and meal riots at the close of the last century. At an 
earlier period of his life he obtained a captaincy in the 
Fifeshire Fencibles ; and, as we find from some of his 
papers still existing, interested himself in drawing up 
various regulations for that corps. Though fond of the 
usual country amusement — the necessary adjunct perhaps 
of every country proprietor — namely, of shooting, and we 
may add also, in its proper season, of skating (in which 
he excelled) upon the lake which he had formed in the 
park at AUanton, his chief exercise and enjoyment was 
transplanting, which formed the great business and 
pleasure of his life. The article on his work in the 
Westminster Review thus not inappropriately concludes : 
— " A great reward was once offered by a rich, and yet 
a very poor man, for the invention of a new pleasure : 
there are times when some of our country gentlemen 
would be tempted to give a good deal for that same 
invention. Men cannot be always shooting, or hunting, 
or seeing that the Game Laws are carried into execution, 
nor can dinner be made to last all the day long ; had they 
but the heart to know it, Sir Henry Steuart has done for 
those gentlemen what the satiated prince asked in vain ; 
what he has done for his country there has not yet been 
time fully to show.'' 

About the close of the year 1835, Sir Henry began to 
discover symptoms of a general breaking up of his con- 
stitution, and after a few months' lingering illness, died on 
11th March 1836, aged seventy-six.''" He was interred, 
according to the rites of the Episcopal Church, of which 
he had all his life been an attached and consistent 
member, in the family vault at Camnethan, a few miles 

Lady Steuart predeceased her husband Sir Henry, having died in the year 
1821. 



XXXVm MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 

distant from the original family burial-place at the old 
parish church, where most of his ancestors repose. He 
was succeeded in his estates by his only surviving 
daughter, Lady Seton Steuart, who had come into pos- 
session of her maternal property of Touch the year pre- 
vious to Sir Henry's death, and in his title, by his son- 
in-law, Reginald Macdonald, Esq. of Staffa, to whom and 
Sir Henry's daugliter, and their heirs male, the baronetage 
as formerly mentioned, had been especially limited. The 
present Sir Henry James Seton Steuart succeeded to 
the baronetcy on the death of his father in the year 
1838. Sir Henry left two other grandsons, and two 
grand-daughters, who, with the exception of his younger 
grandson, now survive. 

Thus lived and thus died this great and good man, if, 
at least, true greatness and goodness consist in the habi- 
tual and honourable discharge of all those duties which 
were imposed upon him, whether as a proprietor, as a 
subject, as a member of the church, or in all the ordinary 
or more peculiar relations of life. On reflection, we 
think that it will not fail to be admitted, that the state- 
ment advanced in the commencement of this Memoir, 
has been fidly illustrated and confirmed; and that a life 
of country and literary retirement can be made most 
conducive to individual happiness and public usefulness, 
whether as a proprietor or a member of the state. 

R. 



PREFACE TO THE FIEST EDITION. 



It might at first sight appear a needless task to undertake a 
formal treatise on an art which almost all men practise^ and 
profess to miderstand, were it not for the fact that so few prac- 
tise it with success. 

The removal of large trees, for pleasure or use, is an art of 
great antiquity. As a branch of arboriculture, it is well known 
to most modern nations 5 but it has remained still longer than 
agriculture without any principles to regulate it, as chemistry 
and physiology, till of late years, have been confined to the re- 
cluse philosopher, and are little studied or understood by the 
active and the practical. I trust, however, that the time is not 
far distant when arboriculture, like husbandry, will engage the 
attention of some able physiologist, and be thoroughly illus- 
trated in all its parts. 

Meanwhile, it is the purpose of the present Essay to treat 
chiefly of "giving immediate effect to wood, by the removal of 
large trees," and to lay down the principles, and explain the 
practice, by which that desirable object may be accomplished. 
In doing this, it is obvious that the art of Geneeal Planting 
must at the same time be taught, as both, being governed by 
the same general laws, should of course be practised on the 
same known principles. In removing wood for the purpose of 
creating real landscape, plants of a large size are necessarily 
employed ; and as such materials are far more unwieldy, and 
more difficult to manage, than those of ordinary planting, they 
require far greater dexterity, as well as greater science. If, 
then, it hold true in arboriculture, as it does in logic, that the 
greater necessarily comprises the less," it is probable that the 
rules of general planting will in this way be more forcibly im- 
pressed on the reader's mind, than if they were studied in any 
other manner. 



xl 



PEEFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



In order to render the art of giving immediate effect to 
wood as intelligible as possible, I have in the following pages 
considered it imder three general heads. 

First. I have given a histoiy of the art of removing wood, 
from the earliest times down to the present; from which it 
appears, that it has always been vague and fortuitous, at vari- 
ance with what we know of the laws of natm^e and the anatomy 
of plants, and for the most part both unsuccessful and expensive. 

Secondly. I have attempted to discover some plain and 
rational theory, foimded in natm^e and experience, for the guid- 
ance of the planter, and which may tend to raise it to the rank 
of a useful art. 

Thirdly. I have endeavoured to deduce from this theory 
such a practice as shall ensure success, by in some sort pre- 
cluding contingency, and also to diminish the expense by the 
one-half at least of the present amount. 

In attempting these objects, I trust that I have treated with 
due respect the opinions of preceding writers. Where I have, 
fi'om deliberate conviction, been forced to differ from them, I 
have done it with regret ; being aware of the uncertainty in 
which all knowledge, on so obscure a subject as vegetable phy- 
siology, must ever be held, and in which, although much has been 
already brought to light by the patient industry of the philo- 
sopher, much, I am persuaded, still remains to be investigated. 

For the deficiencies of the present work I should wish next 
to say something by way of apology, as I am conscious to my- 
self how very greatly it stands in need of it. The fact is, it 
was undertaken at the desire of numerous friends, who approved 
of my system, which I have ventured to call the Peeser- 
VATIVE, in order to serve as a manual for their own practice. 
Accordingly, about eighteen months since, the first section was 
written and printed, in order to convince myself, as well as 
others, that I was in earnest in undertaking the task ; but it 
was soon after interrupted, and in the end thrown aside for 
other avocations. Within these few months the work was 
more seriously resumed — each section was thrown off as soon 
as it was composed ; and the consequence was, that some omis- 
sions, which appeared prominent, were to be supplied in the 



PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



xli 



Notes, while others were found too extensive to be in any way 
supphed. As Notes are not the most popular medium through 
which information can be communicated, perhaps it will appear 
but a small countervail to this statement to add, that most of 
the infonnation applicable to general planting is contained in 
them, as well as that which relates to both horticulture and 
agriculture. 

In this condition of the Treatise, I submit it, imperfect as it 
is, to the candour of the reader ; who, if he be a phytologist of 
research, or, still more, a planter of experience, will appreciate 
the difficulties which attend a new subject, and make some 
allowance for the execution under such circumstances. 

In respect to the practical part, I must own that, in treating 
it, I should have been disposed to enter much less minutely into 
detail, had I merely consulted my own judgment. But as those 
fi'iends most anxious about the book cried out most loudly for 
detail^ and insisted that it was impossible to make it too copious^ 
I have, for the purpose of gratifying them, introduced under 
this head so minute a statement of my o^vn practice, that it may 
probably be considered as more suitable to private communica- 
tion, or perhaps to oral discussion. 

Presumptuous enough as I must appear to the Enghsh 
planters, in venturing to beheve that I could say any thing that 
is new on a subject so familiar to them, or in reprobating 
some parts of their system, which in an evil horn' I have 
termed the MuTiLATiNa, I am not wilhng to add to my sins 
in this way, by seeming also to supersede their practice, and 
recommend something of my own, which they may think much 
worse, in its stead. The trath is, that iov facilitij of execution^ 
and despatch in the field^ my method may be sufficiently well 
calculated, in the lunited scale of work which I have found it 
expedient to adopt, and I may therefore view it with a partial 
eye. But candom- obliges me to admit, that in some respects 
it is inferior to the English system, (for example, in wholly 
rejecting the upright position of the tree;) and it would be un- 
suitable to the large and expensive style of work which is 
often executed by that ingenious and opulent people, and in 
some instances with extraordinary success. 



xlii 



PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



In these circiimstanceSj then, it is proper to dechxre that the 
whole of the practical part of the present work, and especially 
that which relates to the taking up, transporting, and planting 
of trees (that is, Sections YIII. and IX., and apart of Section VII. 
also,) has been composed solely for the information of my own 
coimtrymen, and is intended to suit the narrower designs, and 
more limited means, of the Scottish planters. Should the great 
planters of England, therefore, honour these pages with their 
notice, they will have the goodness altogether to pass over 
these sections, as inapplicable to them^ and to the greatly 
larger and more important style of their works. 

In conclusion, I must be permitted to observe, that the 
limited system here advocated stands perhaps on as high 
ground, in respect of Evidence for its success, as any new 
theory ever brought before the public. When the reader 
refers to the able " Report of the Highland Society of Scot- 
land" on the woods at Allanton House, (which appears in the 
Appendix,) and there finds the mention of feet and inches," 
as referring to the height or the girth of the trees, he will of 
course reflect, that all size in the growth of plants is merely 
relative^ and is to be judged by their relative advantages of 
soil and climate : hence, a shoot of two or three feet long, 
which removed trees are found to exhibit in some of the 
openest exposures of Lanarkshire, must correspond to six or 
eight feet at least in Hampshire or Devonshire, and so in pro- 
portion in other English climates. 

This being premised, I will beg leave, with becoming- 
deference, mider the shelter of a well-known name, and on a 
far higher topic, to put in my claim to offer some practical 
proof in favour of my system. When the late ingenious Dr 
Kitchiner published his scientific and excellent work, The 
Cook's Oracle," he broadly stated, that " It was the only Eng- 
lish cookery-book, written from the real exjperiments of a 

Housekeeper^ for the henefit of Housekeepers That he had 

not given one receipt that had not been proved in his own 
kitchen ; which had not been approved by several of the most 
accompHshed cooks in the kingdom ; and had not, moreover, 
been eaten^ with unanimous applause, by a committee of taste, 



PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



xliii 



composed of some of the most illustrious gastrophilists in the 
metropolis." 

Now, although I sensibly feel how immeasurably less inte- 
resting arboriculture must be held than eating, or than what 
the doctor learnedly calls " the science of gastrology," yet I 
presume to state, in imitation of so great an example, that the 
present is one of the few English books on WoOD which has 
been " written from the real experiments of a planter, for the 
benefit of planters that I have laid down no rule, and 
recommended no practice, that has not been " proved in my 
own park," and of which the successful effects have not been 
witnessed and approved by a committee of both skill and 
taste, composed of some of the most distinguished planters 
in this our ancient kingdom." 

Allanton House, 
. mh Novemler, 1827. 



PEEFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 

It is a singular circumstance that the present attempt, how 
imperfect soever it may be, appears to have been the fii'st 
made in our language to apply the principles of physiology to 
practical arboricultm'e. Of wiiters who have treated vegetable 
physiology as a science there is no want. Of (fibers, who 
have treated the art of planting practically, there are still 
greater numbers ; and it shows in a striking point of view the 
neglected state of planting as an important art, that none of 
om' distinguished chemists have as yet been induced to furnish 
us with some popular manual of arboricultural chemistry.* 

Amidst this dearth of information for the use of the young 
planter, and the extraordinary favour with which the Essay 
has been received by the public, I have spared no pains to 
render the present edition less imperfect, and more generally 

* Like " The Elements of Agricultural Chemistry," by Sir H. Davy ; but it 
would require some acquaintance with wood; as well as knowledge of science. 



xliv 



PEEFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 



useful than its predecessor. I have embodied in the text as 
much of the matter of the Notes and Illustrations as could well 
be done, without incurring the imputation of prolixity; and I 
have added as much to the latter, on the subject of General 
Planting^ as could properly be introduced, without seeming to 
deviate unreasonably into collateral discussion. On the im- 
portant topics of different modes of planting — on pruning, 
trenching and draining soils, preparing composts, raising 
timber for the royal navy (including an examination of Mr 
Withers's late plan for that purpose,) improving park-scenery 
by new arrangements, &c. &c. — short but separate disquisitions 
will be found, which, I trust, will add to the value of the 
volume. However, the first edition will by no means be lost^ 
as it will usefully go to the gardeners and foresters of former 
purchasers. 

Nevertheless, I am well aware that Notes and Illustea- 
TIONS are not the fashion of the day, and that nine persons in 
ten who perused, perhaps with interest, the first edition of this 
Essay, stopped short at once, as soon as the diminished type of 
the Notes met their eye. In a word, characteristic dulness 
and interminable prosing are supposed to be inseparable from 
this species of composition. These things I sensibly regret, 
because I believe that the Notes and Illustrations form the hest 
part of the hooh^ and will be found most useful to the general 
reader. In fact, there was no other way, miless by short 
separate disquisitions, that information, on the various useful 
topics just now mentioned, could be conveyed. 

Having said enough on the improvement of the matter in 
this edition, I should wish to make a few remarks on the 
probable progress of the art under discussion. It is with great 
pleasure that I observe the very general, and, I may say, 
universal assent which has been given, and especially in 
England, where I least expected it, to the principles laid down 
in the present Treatise. From this, two things appear to be 
demonstrated : first, the truth and simplicity of those principles 
themselves ; and secondly, the triumph which science, plainly 
deduced from the laws of nature, is sure to obtain over pre- 
judice or ignorance, however deep-rooted or universal. Of 



PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 



xlr 



the numerous persons of distinction, especially from the southern 
comities of England, whom curiosity or incredulity has lately 
attracted to this place, I believe there is not one who has not 
been both pleased and surprised with the effects produced by 
the removal of wood of every sort, and all seem desirous to 
rival them in their own practice. But as it appears to me 
that there are several circumstances which might retard the 
progress of the art, and render the efforts of its most zealous 
pupils abortive, I shall beg leave shortly to state them, for the 
information of those who may feel interested in its success. 

In the first place, it is to be regretted that, owing to the low 
condition of the art of planting in general, whether of great 
trees or small, the principles of phytology had not earlier been 
applied to it. Like digging or ploughing, it is still apt to be 
considered as a mechanical art^ and no scientific investigation 
is thought necessary to illustrate, or to regulate it. In Sections 
III. IV. y. VI. VII., I have done what I could to supply 
these defects ; but no general effect appears to have been pro- 
duced by it. Even the periodical reviewers, who have bestowed 
on the work so much flattering encomium, have not treated 
planting as an art of science. 

The second circumstance which I shall mention is, the want 
of knowledge in the selection of subjects, as also in the prepa- 
ration of the soil. Whatever progress planters may have made 
in other things, the important business of selecting subjects is 
nearly as little known and appreciated by them, as it was 
before the publication of this Treatise. Among more than a 
hundred gentlemen, and their gardeners or overseers, with 
whom since that period I have conversed — all professing to have 
studied, and many to have practised the art with accuracy — not 
one appears to me to possess the remotest idea of the principles 
of selection. 

Of the preparation of the soil they seem to know equally 
little ; and two only of the whole number consider either the 
one or the other as attended with any difficulty: yet it is such 
preparative processes that are the foundation and corner-stone 
of the edifice to be raised, and the indispensable conditions of 
the results contemplated. I find, however, that the manage- 



xlvi 



PREFACE TO THE SE.COND EDITION. 



ment of the roots has much more seized the general attention, 
and that particularly the use of cutting round them, so as to 
enlarge their fibrous development, has been greatly overrated. 
The common impression seems to be, that when this opera- 
tion (which is comparatively imimportant, and not always 
necessary) is once performed with diligence, the planter is 
released from the task of studying any one of the more useful 
branches of the preservative system. 

The third and last circumstance which I shall notice is, the 
obtaining a proper stock of subjects — and that, I fear, is not 
deemed more difficult, or more important, than the proper 
selection of them. Without a stock of trees of all sorts, com- 
mensurate to the planter's wants, no one can reasonably expect 
to create at pleasure a succession of real landscapes ; because, 
for that purpose, trees in every variety of form, such as exist 
at this place — the high and the low, the massive and the light, 
the spreading and the spiral — should be at the absolute com- 
mand of the designer. Gentlemen peruse my book, where 
they find a certain theory held forth. They perhaps visit the 
place, where they are surprised to see their idea of the theory 
even surpassed by the practice. They then go away with the 
impression that there is nothing so easy as an art of which 
they do not think it worth while to study the principles, or 
even to provide themselves with materials for the practice!^ 

Taking these plain facts and circumstances into view, and 
that of the general notice which the new art has attracted, it 
seems extremely probable that the repute it has so suddenly 
acquired may eventually prove the cause of its oim failure. 
Seduced by an account, however correct, of an effective and 
rapid field-practice, of which the simplicity seems to equal the 
success of the execution, ignorant or superficial persons might 

* I know no one in this neighbourhood who has so large a stock of beauti- 
ful subjects as Lord Morton, in the park at Dalmahoy. They are all finely 
'prepared hy nature, in consequence of the thinning system adopted by his 
lordship's predecessor. The late lord used twice a-week to hunt a pack of 
small beagles over his plantations, from the time they were six feet high ; and 
his rule for thinning, as he told me, was to give himself full room always to 
ride through them." This was, at least, a very sporting, if it was not a scientific 
way, of preparing his materials. 



PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 



xlvii 



be brought to believe that the latter is to be attained without 
any trouble to themselves. Uneducated foresters or self-suf- 
ficient gardeners might, therefore, be set to work by them, to 
practise, or more probably to improve, upon the preservative 
method ; and thus what was begun in indolence or ignorance, 
would, in all likelihood, end in vexation and disappointment. 
But it is to the imjperfection of the system^ and not to their own 
unskilfalness, that such operators would be sm-e to ascribe an 
unfavourable issue. 

In order to remedy, as far as may be, these evils, whether 
present or prospective, I have, at the desire of several English 
friends, endeavoured to get the art taken up in a jprofessional 
way, by persons of good education, properly instructed. Those 
persons, it is proposed, shall assume the general name of 
Ornamental Planters, and be competent to teach the art of 
" giving immediate effect to wood," whether in principle or 
practice. Each shall be attended by two skilful workmen or 
operatives, who have been trained at this place ; and by visit- 
ing different parts of the island, as their services may be 
required, both gentlemen themselves, and their gardeners, will 
soon become masters of a system which, how carefully soever 
it may be delineated in description, can never be so thoroughly 
apprehended as by real practice. 

Of such planters it is imagined that two in number might 
suffice in the beginning. One would, in all probability, find 
employment in this kingdom, and in the northern counties of 
England, in the parallel of Yorkshire; and one more in the 
districts south of the Trent, from which my principal visitors 
have lately come. Care shall be taken that the planters be 
instructed in the anatomy of plants, and vegetable physiology ; 
and I should be ambitious that an acquaintance with the 
execution, as well as the principles of landscape, were added to 
those necessary acquirements. This, it is conceived, would 
give to the new profession somewhat of that mterest and 
elegance which belongs to all effects produced chiefly by wood. 
It would throw a character in some sort doiibly creative over 
the whole undertaking, as it would enable the artist to sketch 
beforehand with his pencil such pictures as he could afterwards 



xlviii 



PEEFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 



realise, with nature's materials, according to the fancy of his 
employer. If no adverse accident occm' to obstruct this design, 
I trust that, by the first week of January next, the planters 
may be ready to proceed on their arboricultural adventure, of 
which due notice will of course be given in a public manner. 

Meanwhile his Majesty has been graciously pleased to 
grant permission that this edition of the work shall be dedicated 
to him. It is true, that it was originally intended for " the 
climate of Scotland;" but as the laws of nature, and such 
systems as are deduced from them, are the same in all countries 
and in all climates, it is probable that it may now be consider- 
ed as an English book. To every reader, therefore, such a 
dedication will appear peculiarly appropriate, as his Majesty is 
the only prince in Europe who, to a correct taste in the other 
fine arts, adds a perfect knowledge of one that is truly indi- 
genous and Enghsh. In a former day, Louis XIV., by the 
mere efibrts of physical force, drew about great trees in the 
vicinity of Paris. In a happier age of arts, as well as insti- 
tutions,* we may now hope to see a British monarch, in the 
vicinity of Windsor, GIVE immediate effect to wood on 
scientific principles, and thus rival the great masters of design, 
in his creations of real landscape. 

* Rard temponm felicitate. — Tacitus. 

Allanton House, 
mil October, 1828. 



THE 



PLANTER'S GUIDE. 



SECTION L 

IMPOETANCE OF ARBORICULTUEE, AND OF ESTABLISHING IT 
ON SCIENTIFIC PEINCIPLES. ART OF GIYING IMMEDIATE 
EFFECT TO WOOD. 

Theee is perhaps no epithet by which the inhabitants 
of the northern division of this island, in the present 
day, can be more appropriately distinguished than that of 
a " Planting Kation/' or, to speak with more correctness, 
a " Nation of Planters/^ All men now plant who are 
possessed of land property, from the wealthy citizen with 
his villa of an acre, to the powerful baron with his park 
of a thousand acres, each according to the extent of his 
surface and the measure of his ability. 

The vast sums which are annually laid out on this 
useful and ornamental object would exceed belief, if 
fairly estimated, considering the limited wealth of the 
country compared with that of England. Yet of trees 
the Scottish landowner for the most part knows little, 
although he may possibly know as much as his English 
neighbours; but like them he lays out his money freely 
on^.the work, however executed, conceiving, and with 
justice, that he has done a great thing, if not for himself 

A 



2 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



at least for his posterity. Unacquainted with the 
history, properties, and culture of trees, he naturally 
enough sees with the eyes and hears with the ears of his 
gardener ; and as the gardener, ninety-nine times in a 
hundred, knows nothing himself, it is " the blind leading 
the blind" in this important branch of rural economy. 
Sometimes the forester is the operating person, which is 
still more imfortunate ; for he is generally a mere lopper 
and cutter of wood. In ordinary cases he is much worse 
educated than the gardener, with equal pretensions as to 
arboriculture, and equal ignorance. 

On the gardeners of Scotland it is not here intended 
to throw the slightest reflection, miless for wandering out 
of the line of their own profession. They are a class of 
men possessed of superior intelligence as well as superior 
respectability. They have done great honour to their 
native country, both at home and abroad. But this very 
intelligence should prevent them from engaging in a de- 
partment for which they know they cannot have leisure, 
if they duly cultivate their own, but which is often put 
upon them by the indolence, and still more by the ignorance 
of their employers. 

The fact is, that of all land produce Wood is the 
least studied and understood by the landowners them- 
selves, and by consequence the worst managed. To all 
estates this subject must be of some value ; to many it 
is of vast and vital importance, involving the interests of 
more than one generation ; while to others it is the prin- 
cipal and paramount source of their revenue. In an age, 
therefore, when every thing useful and ornamental becomes 
the subject of scientific investigation and general study, it 
seems singular that arboriculture shoidd at once be so uni- 
versally practised, and the physiological principles which 
regulate it be so generally unknown. 



THE planter's guide. 



3 



The lords of the soil in this kingdom have from time 
immemorial been good sportsmen. Of late they have 
become knowing agriculturists and cattle-breeders ; and 
as the tide of fashion has not long since set in from the 
south in favour of the occupation last mentioned, and 
flowed even to fdness, so we may hope that the know- 
ledge of WOOD will ere long have its turn. Could 
the most speculative, forty years since, have anticipated 
that the pedigree, form, and fat of sheep and bullocks, 
should in the present day have become an interesting 
study with the gay and the fashionable ^ By a revolution 
in things as unexpected, we may conceive it possible that 
a little botany and vegetable physiology, together with a 
thorough acquaintance with planting and arboriculture, 
may at length engage the attention of those who are most 
interested in their success. Probably it will be found that 
no nobleman or gentleman will make a worse sportsman, 
a less scientific farmer, or a less successful cattle-dealer, for 
having some conversancy with wood, or being able to 
detect the ignorance of his own gardener or forester ; and 
should a knowledge of painting, or the principles of land- 
scape be added, their elegant and attractive character will 
surely not derogate from these more popular acquirements. 

Trees are without doubt the most beautiful objects 
that adorn the surface of the earth. They are nearly the 
most important production of the A^egetable kingdom to 
civihsed man. Without trees, the mountains and the 
plains, the lakes and the rivers, would want their brightest 
ornament ; and without them, also, the most useful and 
the most elegant arts would be destitute of materials. 
Nature, in the beginning, bountifully supplied the earth 
with trees and forests ; but a large proportion was neces- 
sarily cleared away, to admit of the cultivation of the earth. 
In process of time, as the wants of men multiplied, 



4 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



forests were cut down ; and industry became indispens- 
able in order to furnish a supply of wood. Hence the 
planting and rearing of wood and timber trees for that 
purpose, is one of the most important arts which can 
excite the attention and exercise the skill of a polished 
nation, and especially one whose existence may be said to 
depend on the paramount superiority of its naval force. 

It is a subject of regret that the art of Planting in 
Britain has not hitherto been cultiyated on scientific prin- 
ciples. It seems surprising that the nation to which the 
world is principally indebted for the application of physi- 
ology and chemistry to agriculture, should never have 
thought of applying those sciences to wood, and that 
British planters should still be as completely unacquainted 
with the nature and anatomy of plants, as they were 
in the days of Evelyn and Cooke. In fact, their igno- 
rance would seem portentous and incredible were it not 
proved by daily experience.''' Thus planting is still 
regarded by many as a secondary branch of horticulture, 
unworthy of being separately treated or attentively 
studied. By the institution of Societies, where experi- 
ments are carefully recorded, and general conclusions 
deduced from well-authenticated facts, agriculture, 
within the last thirty years, has assumed a more regular 
form and character ; and horticulture, by the same laud- 
able means, promises ere long to rise to the rank of this 
her elder sister. We may therefore reasonably expect 
that the time is not far distant when arboriculture, 
being of the same family, will at length share the same 
distinction ; that it will be taken out of ignorant hands, 
and engage the attention of the ingenious and the 
scientific. It is to our southern neighbours that we 



* Note I. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



5 



have been indebted for our knowledge of most of the 
useful and elegant arts. Let us in this instance take 
the lead ourselves, and bj instituting A Society for 
THE Improvement of Arboriculture exclusively, 
endeavour in that department to repay them some por- 
tion of those weighty obligations. 

It must be acknowledged by every one who has 
attended to the subject, that arboriculture is the art 
the most truly neglected in our whole rural manage- 
ment, and that it can never flourish unless it be studied 
as a separate profession. Standing, as it certainly does 
in this country, next in rank and consequence to Agri- 
cultm'e, it will not do as an appendage to any Society 
whatever, not even to the Highland, or Great National 
Society for the Encouragement of Arts and Manufactures 
in Scotland. But, were it fortunately placed under a 
separate and intelligent patronage, the fruits of so judi- 
cious an arrangement would ere long become apparent. 
Well-informed landholders, useful foresters, and scien- 
tific nurserymen would speedily rise up, under the foster- 
ing influence of such a Society. Facts as well as 
principles, which are now known only to the studious 
phytologist, would become familiar to all, whether owners 
of woods, or those engaged in their superintendence ; and 
while the properties of individuals were gradually rendered 
more productive, a great accession would be made to the 
general wealth and intelligence of the country.'" 

Gardening in its highest sense, or the art of creat- 
ing or embellishing rural scenery, has, within the last 
century, been carried to considerable perfection in 
Britain, and has added one more to the number of the 
fine arts. It was first struck out by the genius of Kent, 
in the beginning of the last century, after having been 

* Note XL 



6 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



long before imagined by Bacon, and finely delineated by 
Milton/'" Subsequently the art was assiduously culti- 
vated by Brown, Repton, and others of that school, 
although not altogether on principles such as should have 
regulated it ; and it is now nearly perfected by the more 
correct judgment of Price, Knight, and Loudon. What- 
ever there was of unnatural or formal, whether borrowed 
from antiquity or contrived by modern designers, is now 
banished from the English garden. The professors 
themselves of his own school have all followed Repton, 
in tacitly acknowledging the improvements of the age, 
and in advancing the public taste.f 

According to these enlightened principles, places and 
parks, whether old or new, are now laid out. Where 
woods have stood for centuries, taste and skill have done 
much to display and even improve their effects ; and 
incredible labour and expense have been dedicated to the 
planting of new residences, where another age only can 
see the ideas of the owners realised. Nothing seems 
wanting to this charming art, but some successful method 
of giving a speedy effect to wood, and of bringing the 
enjoyment of it, in some sort, within the lifetime of the 
planter — ^that is, giving it at once a magnitude sufl&cient 
for picturesque purposes. 

Wood must ever be the grand and effective material 
of real landscape. Over the other materials of pictu- 
resque improvement the artist has comparatively little 
control. With earth he cannot do much : rocks are by 
far too ponderous for his management ; and water can 
be commanded only in certain situations and circumstances. 
But trees or bushes can be raised any where ; and there 
is no situation so utterly hopeless as not to be capable of 
considerable beauty, from wood planted abundantly and 

* Note HI. t Note IV. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



7 



judiciously. In a country, then, like Britain, where every 
luxury is purchased at so high a price, it may appear 
surprising that some certain method of obtaining the im- 
mediate command of wood should still be a desideratum 
in its ornamental gardening. 

Few men begin to plant in early life, and what is long 
deferred, many, for that reason, omit to do altogether. 
He who inherits or acquires a land estate, is usually 
desirous to shelter and embellish it. The soldier or the 
merchant, the statesman or the lawyer, after a life spent 
in honourable exertion, generally retires to rural scenes, 
as capable of furnishing the most unmixed enjoyment to 
the decline of life. To view nature in the rich garb 
with which taste and ingenuity now invest her, is always 
pleasing : but, as it is far more delightful to create than to 
contemplate, so it often happens that finished places, where 
scarcely any thing more is to be done, are not always 
sought after by the active and the wealthy. New sites, 
therefore, are frequently preferred to improved residences, 
at which the mansion is yet to be built, the farm to 
be improved, and the park to be laid out and planted. 
All feel the pleasure of contriving their own accommoda- 
tions, and imagining and composing their own landscapes ; 
and they look forward with delight to the time when they 
may witness the full accomplishment of the latter, by the 
wood arriving at maturity. By the planter himself, how- 
ever, a gratification so exquisite can hardly be expected ; 
and that discouraging idea cannot fail in some degree to 
cool his ardour and damp his enjoyments. 

To such persons especially, and to all men possessed 
of land property, the immediate effect of wood must 
appear a considerable object, if any method can be devised 
to obtain it with success and certainty. What, then, 
would such persons say, were they informed that so 



8 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



obscure a practice as that of transplanting could do 
this ; that an entire parh could be thus wooded at once, 
and forty years of life anticipated The fact is that the 
possibility of the improvement, and much more, haye been 
verified by pretty extensive experience. Groups and 
single Trees have been scattered every where in such a 
park at pleasure, in all sorts of soils and exposures, and 
applied to the composition or the improvement of real 
landscape. Instead of lopping and mutilating the Trees, 
and sometimes altogether decapitating them, (as has been 
the general practice,) the grand point has been gained of 
preserving their tops entire; so that, with subjects of 
whatever magnitude, no loss of either spray or branches 
is suffered ; and, what is still more important, no loss of 
health and vigour in the trees, excepting for a short 
period, after having undergone the process of removal. 

But besides the various combinations and details of 
the landscape, it has been found also quite practicable to 
apply the art to the most general purposes of utility and 
shelter, whether in large towns or in the country,''^ by the 
transplanting of copse or underwood of any size or species. 
This is either formed alone into large masses, or it is in- 
termixed with grove or standard Trees, as circumstances 
in either situation may require. By these means some of 
the most interesting objects, both agricultural and orna- 
mental, have been accomplished, at a very moderate 
expense, and brought within the reach, not only of the 
great and opulent, but of any person of limited fortune. — 
Such is the art which is attempted to be taught in the 
following pages. 

But the principles on which it is established imply 
a far wider range, and admit of a far more important 
application. The art of giving immediate effect to wood 

Note V. 



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9 



is not merely an art of practice. It is founded on 
vegetable physiology and tlie anatomy of plants, and 
constitutes one branch only of general planting, which 
it is still more important to teach on principles of science. 
To carry the former into effect, it is obyious that, as mate- 
rials of considerable magnitude are concerned, so difficulties 
are found which do not occur in ordinary planting, and, 
by doing greater yiolence to Nature, it requires far greater 
dexterity, as well as greater science. To teach the art, 
therefore, of removing large trees, is to teach, in the 
most effective manner, that of General Planting on physi- 
ological principles, which, as they are drawn from Nature 
herself, cannot err, and accordingly, they furnish the only 
certain means of accounting for its failure, or teaching it 
with success. He who can raise a Tree from the seed to 
the state of valuable timber, whether for ornament or use, 
must possess a certain acquaintance with the habits ot 
woody plants : but the man who can remove Trees of 
considerable age and magnitude at pleasure, must neces- 
sarily possess the same species of skill, and a knowledge of 
the laws of Nature, to a much superior extent. 

On a subject like this, which is wholly new but not the 
less interesting to the British planter, I would earnestly 
entreat the attention and indulgence of the reader. It 
is not more than threescore years since chemistry and 
natural nistory began to be successfully cultivated among 
us, and applied to the improvement of the arts. The 
ingenious writings and interesting discoveries of Mr 
Knight, the President of the Horticultural Society of 
London, have done much to turn the public attention to 
vegetable physiology, as important to the advancement 
of horticulture. The late able works of Mr Keith on 
Physiological Botany, and of Mr ElHs on Vegetable 
Anatomy and Physiology, have completely systematised 



10 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



the science ; they have tended to correct the errors and 
supply the omissions of former writers, and to bring for- 
ward, in one luminous view, both their own discoveries 
and those of foreign nations. 

Let us therefore hope that the present attempt to bring 
vegetable physiology into general notice, by applying it 
to the practice of arboriculture, may not be less success- 
ful than that of the applying chemistry to husbandry, 
which, to the astonishment of Europe, has rendered the 
cultivation of the soil a new art in modern hands. The 
culture of wood, as has been already observed, in point of 
rank and importance certainly stands next to the culture 
of the soil, and in point of attraction it stands a great 
deal higher, from the delightful effects it every where pro- 
duces — whether they are seen in the seclusion of the grove, 
the richness of the park, or the endless charms of woodland 
scenery. Since the ladies of late have become students 
of chemistry, it is not too much to expect that they will be 
ambitious of attaining proficiency in a science so much 
more akin to their own pursuits ; and that country gentle- 
men, emulous to profit by so illustrious an example, will 
not suffer vegetable physiology to be any longer a desi- 
deratum, either in their own acquirements, or in those of 
their gardeners, their foresters, or their land-stewards. 
Thus a new era will be brought about in British arbori- 
culture, of which the most remarkable circumstance is, 
that it has not been brought about before, amidst the 
advancement of the other arts : and thus England, 
which a century and a half ago was the birthplace and 
the cradle of vegetable physiology, will soon give lessons 
in scientific planting as well as agriculture to the rest of 
Europe. 

Although, I trust, I am not too sanguine in these 
pleasing anticipations, yet I own that I did not at first 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



11 



contemplate so important and extensive an application of 
the principles about to be laid down in this Essay. 
Neither was it in the contemplation of the Committee 
of the Highland Society, or General Society for the 
Encouragement of the Arts in this kingdom, which some 
years since examined my Woods, because their attention 
was turned merely to the facts before them. The able 
Report at that time drawn up (and which will be found 
in the Appendix,) relates solely to mj practice; and they 
knew that it was deduced from experience, and from 
observations made on woods for more than forty years. 
Yet it is with both pride and pleasure that I appeal to 
this Report for the correctness of the statement above 
given, of the powerful effects which the art in question 
is capable of producing ; a statement that otherwise 
might appear unfounded in its facts as well as extrava- 
gant in its pretensions. In the Committee will be seen 
names of the first class in the rank, literature, and general 
intelligence of the country ; and the Report itself is 
drawn up by the individual the most highly gifted and 
distinguished of those persons, who is himself well 
acquainted with the subject of wood. '''^ 

At the place from which these pages are dated, they 
found a park of limited extent, and possessing no parti- 
cular claim to beauty, but visited from curiosity by many 
persons within the last ten years. It consists of about a 
hundred and twenty English acres, abundantly clothed 
with trees and underwood of every common species, by 
means of the transplanting machine ; and exhibiting 
within itself a practical illustration of every principle 
laid down, and every theory put forth, in this Essay. 
The single trees and bushes, in groups and open dis- 
positions, amount to about seven hundred in number, 

* Note VL 



12 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



exclusive of close plantations and copsewood. Their 
size, when removed, was not great, the largest not 
exceeding from thirty to forty feet in height, and from, 
three, or three-and-a-half, to five feet in girth, at a foot 
from the ground ; but many of them were of much 
smaller dimensions. The heio^ht of the bushes or under- 
wood removed was from four to ten feet, consisting 
of every sort usually found on the banks of lakes and 
rivers. But size, in an art founded on scientific prin- 
ciples, is a mere matter of choice and expenditure ; for 
trees of the greatest size are as susceptible of removal 
as those of the least. It was desirable, however, as 
almost every thing was to be done here in the way of 
park-wood, to limit the operations to the smallest pos- 
sible expenditure, consistently with producing some eff'ect 
on the foreground and middle distance of the landscape, 
and with careful execution. 

Whoever will take the trouble to visit the place, will 
perhaps find his labour repaid in examining the progress 
of an art calculated probably to become as popular as 
any that has been cultivated within a century, as there 
is scarcely any one in which so many persons in the 
higher and middle ranks are interested. 

Considering the prejudices which once existed against 
the art, and that the great fower of which it is sus- 
ceptible will with difficulty gain belief, it may be worth 
while to state a few facts as to its general application, 
which are as incontrovertible as they may seem sur- 
prising to the reader. It is from no vain desire to 
exaggerate what has been done at this place, but merely 
to show the degree of progress which the art has made 
under the greatest disadvantages of soil and climate. It 
is also for the purpose of proving to those who may 
engage in similar undertakings, that, whatever has been 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



13 



done well here, may with equal industry be done a great 
deal better in most other situations.'" 

There was in this park originally no water, and 
scarcely a tree or a bush on the banks and promontories 
of the present lake and river, for the water partakes 
of both those characters. During the summer of 1820 
the water was executed, and in that and the following 
year the grounds immediately adjoining were abundantly 
covered with wood, by means of the transplanting 
machine. Groups and single trees, grove and under- 
wood, were introduced, in every style of disposition which 
the subject seemed to admit. Where the turf recedes 
from or approaches the water, the ground is somewhat 
bold and irregular, although without striking features of 
any sort : yet the profusion of wood scattered over a 
surface of moderate limits, in every form and variety, 
gave it an intricacy and an expression which it never 
possessed before. 

By the autumn of the third year only after the execu- 
tion, namely 1823, when the Committee of the Society 
honoured the place with their inspection, the different 
parts seemed to harmonise with one another, and the 
intended effects were nearly produced. What it was 
wished to bring forward appeared already prominent. 
What was to be concealed, or thrown into the back- 
ground, began to assume that station. The foreground 
trees, (the best that could be procured,) placed on the 
eastern bank above the water, broke it into parts with 
their spreading branches, and formed combinations which 
were extremely pleasing. The copse or underwood 
which covers an island in the lake, and two promon- 
tories, as also an adjoining bank that terminates the 

* See the Report of the Committee of the Highland Society. 



14 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



distance, was seen coming down nearly to the water's 
edge. What was the most important of all, both trees 
and underwood had obtained a full and deep-coloured 
leaf, and health and vigour were restored to them. In a 
word, the whole appeared like a spot at least forty years 
planted. 

The actual extent of surface to which this cursory 
delineation refers, does not exceed from forty to fifty 
acres ; but the intricacy and variety, created solely by 
various dispositions of luood upon an uneven surface, con- 
fer on it, to the eye, indefinite limits. In confirmation 
of this remark the reader is referred to the Frontispiece, 
Plate I., where he will find a view of the park here, 
taken in 1827, from the western side of the lake ; it was 
soon after the planting of the steep bank or head in that 
quarter, as is designated by the transplanting machine, 
which is seen still remaining on the ground. The spot is 
nearly opposite to that from which it was viewed by the 
Committee of the Higiiland Society. The whole of the 
park thus delineated was wooded by the machine, whe- 
ther in masses or detached groups of Trees, between the 
years 1816 and 1821, but chiefly in the latter, excepting 
only the distant or bounding lines of plantations, over 
which a few old trees are here and there seen to elevate 
their heads. 

This view conveys much more distinctly to the mind 
than any verbal description could do, the power which 
the art possesses of giving immediate effect to the 
scenery of a place, and even of giving it new scenery. It 
is an art which will be duly appreciated by those who 
have studied landscape ; and it will appear the more 
striking on a subject which is tame at best, and, in the 
designer's phrase, of very limited " capability." What, 
then, would be the effect on other subjects to which 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



15 



nature has been more bountiful, and whose general cha- 
racter is more interesting or more romantic 1 

It has been said (and in ordinary cases with justice) of 
the art of the painter, that it has a marked superiority 
over that of the designer of real landscape. The for- 
mer, it is argued, can finish his pictures at pleasure ; 
whereas the latter must depend, for the completion of his, 
on the slow progress of time, added to the uncertain 
effects of both soil and climate. But it clearly appears 
that the position is disproved here by the extraordinary 
power of the transplanting machine, the facilities of both 
artists being thereby placed nearly on an equality in 
respect to Wood, the principal material in the formation 
of all landscapes. 

With facts like the above, verified on such high and 
respectable evidence as that of the Highland Society of 
Scotland, we may venture to believe that the practice of 
transplanting, as now improved and raised to the rank 
of an art, is calculated to become far more generally 
useful than has hitherto been imagined. And further, it 
is probable that it will form an important ally to gar- 
dening in its highest sense, and the most effective engine 
which the designer has ever yet employed to realise his 
landscapes. 



SECTION 11. 



HISTORY OF THE ART, FROM THE EARLIEST DOWN TO THE 
PRESENT TIMES. 

When we consider tlie singular beauty and usefulness 
of trees, it cannot seem surprising that tliey should have 
been the favourites of mankind in all ages. That the 
polished nations of antiquity assiduously cultivated them, 
we have the most unquestionable evidence, both for hor- 
ticultural and agricultural purposes. Theophrastus, who 
was the scholar of Plato and Aristotle, composed an 
elaborate treatise on the history and properties of plants, 
which, together with the remains of the Greek Geoponic 
writers, has survived the wreck of learning, and evinces 
how great a degree of attention was bestowed on the sub- 
ject by that ingenious people. 

Among the Romans, the cultivation of trees formed an 
early object of study. By the laws of the Twelve Tables, 
the cutting down or injuring them was an offence which 
was visited with severe penalties. Oato, Varro, and 
Columella wrote particularly on both fruit and forest trees ; 
and Varro, who was contemporary with Julius Caesar, 
enumerates more than fifty different Avriters on rural 
affairs (of which arboriculture was a constituent part) 
who in his time were held in estimation.! 

In this state of rural information and intelligence, it 

* Note I. f De Re Rust. c. i. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



17 



was natural for men to form the wish to give immediate 
effect to trees, and thereby anticipate the slow progress 
of time in bringing them to perfection. Accordingly, the 
practice of removing them of a large size, instead of being, 
as is generally supposed, a modern invention, lays claim 
to the honours of a high antiquity. When the Greeks or 
Romans wanted to designate any thing that was impos- 
sible, or at least extremely difficult to be performed, they 
said that it was like " transplanting an old tree ; and 
their usual way of applying the adage clearly shows, that 
their experience of the success of the operation was not 
greatly different from our own at this moment."^^' 

. In presenting to the reader a cursory view of the pro- 
gress of the practice, from the earliest times down to the 
present, it is plain that we are too little acquainted with 
the state of arts and manners in ancient times, to be able 
to draw very copiously from what has been called the 
classical ages. The Greeks certainly were unacquainted 
with the painting of landscape, notwithstanding the sur- 
prising height to which they carried other departments 
of the art, and consequently with the picturesque effect 
of trees. At Rome, landscape painting was first prac- 
tised only in the time of Augustus ; f and indeed it does 
not seem to have been cultivated in any striking degree 
by this extraordinary people, at least if we may judge 
from the specimens found at Herculaneum and Pompeii 
at a later period of the empire. The ancients, although 
they sufficiently understood and cultivated wood, applied 
it much more to useful than to ornamental purposes. 

The transplanting of trees of a large size appears to 
have been of considerable importance to the Roman 
husbandman. Pliny, who wrote during the reigns of 



* Note II. 



t Note III. 



B 



18 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



Augustus and Tiberius, speaks of Elms twenty feet high, in 
the neighbourhood of Rome, being commonly removed into 
the vineyard for the training of vines. They were planted, 
he says, in a trench called Novenarius — -because they 
stood in it nine feet every way from one another ; which 
trench was three feet deep and as many broad, or more, 
with a bank of earth raised round the stem, like the seats 
used by the peasants in Campania : a judicious contrivance 
both for supporting the tree, and protecting it from the 
effects of drought, during the first season after removal. 
Witch Hazels, he also adds, were transferred in tlie same 
manner, and indiscriminately from the nursery ground 
and from the open forest.'"' 

The same writer, as well as Theophrastus, mentions 
that it was a common practice to re-establish large trees, 
and particularly the Plat anus, that had been blown down, 
and had their roots torn up by the violence of the wind ; 
and that this was effected by skilfully replanting them, so 
as that the lacerated parts completely knit again and re- 
vived.f Moreover, Pliny speaks of a Fir-tree which, 
before it was transplanted, had a tap-root no less than 
eight cubits long, that is, reckoning from the place at 
which it was broken off in the taking up, but that a con- 
siderable part of it still remained in the ground. This 
extraordinary circumstance respecting the Fir he seems to 
have taken from Theophrastus, who states it as a fact 
known in his time respecting the Pitch Pine, and entitled 
to credit.;]; 

Cato, Varro, and Columella all speak of the transplan- 
tation of trees of various sizes. The younger Seneca in- 
forms us in one of his letters, written from the villa of 
Scipio Africanus, but then belonging to an intelligent 

* Note IV. f Hist. Nat. lib. xvi. 31. Theophrast. Hist. Plant, lib. iv. 19. 
X Hist. Plant, lib. ii. 7. 



THE planter's guide. 



19 



friend of his own, that he had there learned the method of 
successfully removing an entire orchard of old trees, as 
practised by the latter ; that the trees, after the third and 
fourth year, produced an abundant crop of fruit, with the 
fairest promise of thriving luxuriantly, and continuing 
their shade to a late period. This, he adds, was an inte- 
resting lesson for him at an advanced time of life, when 
men naturally wish to plant for themselves, although they 
generally do so for posterity/'' Virgil, in the same way, 
in describing his old Corycian, takes care to celebrate his 
skill in the planting of wood of a large size, as one of the 
accomplishments of a Roman husbandman. t But no 
ancient author, as far as I know, has left us any body of 
practical precepts respecting the execution. The only 
two who have handed down any thing Hke a description 
of it are the younger Seneca, who. lived in the time of 
Nero, and Anatolius, a Greek physician, and one of the 
Geoponic writers, who, according to the best critics, was 
contemporary with the Emperor Constantino. Ij. These 
accounts, therefore, may properly be considered as de- 
scribing the Greek and the Roman methods of transplant- 
ing ; and as the subject is cuiious, it may be worth while 
to give their respective statements in their own words. 

Anatolius, as far as we can judge, possessed consider- 
able skill in this department. " If," says he "you would 
remove a large tree to advantage, open a very deep trench 
or pit. (This planter, we may suppose, had a very porous 
subsoil.) Be careful to cut away the spray and smaller 
branches, but without injuring the larger ones ; and also 
to leave the whole of the roots entire and untouched. 
Then place the tree carefully in the pit, covering up its 
roots with a quantity of good mould and manure. Observe, 



Note V. f Note VI. 

t Niclas, Proleg. in Geopon. p. 48. 



20 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



however," adds he, "this special precaution — that to which- 
soeyer side it inclined or leaned at first, let it incline to 
the same side in its new situation/' It is true, these 
directions are given for trees bearing fruit, but we may 
fairly conclude that they equally applied to forest trees ; 
and it would be well for modern planters were their prac- 
tice not more defective than that of Anatolius. 

The account given by Seneca of the Roman practice is 
greatly more circumstantial. " There are two methods,'' he 
says, in the letter above mentioned, " according to which 
my friend plants his olive ground, {olivetum) The one is, 
by removing trees of a large size, and making the planta- 
tion at once ; the other is by planting sets, of which the 
progress is necessarily much slower. According to the 
former mode, the first thing to be done is to cut ofi* all 
the branches, to the distance of a foot from the trunk. 
The next thing is to do the same by the lateral roots, 
leaving nothing entire except the body of the root, from 
which the fibres issue. The tree is next placed in the pit, 
with a sufiicient quantity of manure, and mould is thrown in 
and consolidated by the most assiduous pressure and firm 
treading with the foot. Nothing, as my friend conceives, 
is more efi&cacious than this way of giving solidity and 
consistency to the earth round the stem. It excludes both 
cold and drought, and preserves the tree from the ill 
effects of wind ; as it is obvious that the slightest agitation 
has a tendency to strain the tender fibres, and prevent 
them from striking properly in the ground, and going forth 
in search of their food. Last of all, before filling in the 
earth, he scrapes or cleans that part of the root which is 
nearest the surface ; because his idea is, that from every 
part so treated and laid bare new growths and fibres are 
immediately sent out. By the above process, as there are 



* Note VIL 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



21 



only tliree or foui^ feet of the stem standing above ground, 
it is soon covered from top to bottom with new shoots ; 
and no part of it appears stunted or hidebound, as such 
trees usually are in old Olive plantations. 

" The other method of planting is by means of sets, 
which are formed of stout branches and put into the pits, 
in a manner similar to that above described. In selecting 
these, however, care must be taken that they are covered 
with fresh and tender bark, such as young trees generally 
produce. It is true, (as he observes,) the sets require 
much more time than entire trees to arrive at matuiity ; 
but they become, in the end, not less beautiful and healthy 
than if they had sprung from plants which were raised in 
the ordinary manner.^^ 

Notwithstanding this seeming nicety in the Roman 
practice, and the probability that it might have led to the 
estabhshment of principles, it is curious enough to per- 
ceive that the art became retrograde, rather than proges- 
sive, in the hands of the Romans. PaUadius, who wrote 
more than a century after Seneca, and nearly two after 
Varro and Columella, directs, in his work to be done in 
November, that in transferring large trees all the branches 
should be cut away previously to their removal, and con- 
sequently the trees much more defaced and mutilated than 
after the Greek manner — a precept which seems to be 
but too faithftilly observed by most planters of the pre- 
sent day.t 

If we descend, in our investigation, to modern times, we 
shall not find that any considerable progress has been 
made in the art beyond the knowledge of the ancient 
nations. The difficulty of transplanting an old tree stiU 
remained proverbial ; and Baptista Mantuanus, who 



* Note VIIL 



t Note IX. 



22 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



flourished in the fifteenth century, might well exclaim — 

" Heu, male transfertur senio cum induruit arbor !'' 

After the revival of learning in Europe, gardening, and 
in some sort arboriculture, were among the useful arts 
first studied ; but the rudeness of those early attempts at 
the former gave no earnest of the excellence which it was 
afterwards to attain. It is a popular error to suppose, as 
is done by some, that our rectilinear gardens, our formal 
avenues, and elaborate topiary works, were borrowed from 
the Dutch, after the accession of King William. On the 
contrary, they belong to a far earlier day. They were 
accurate transcripts, derived from antiquity, of the Roman 
garden, as we find it admired by Cicero, and described 
by Pliny, in the most polished ages of the empire.*" They 
were the style of garden first brought to Britain by the 
Romans ; and it prevailed universally in England, as we 
learn from both Hentzner and Plott, in the days of Queen 
Elizabeth. 

The removal of large trees has been practised in Europe 
for nearly two centuries, and it is more than a liundred 
and fifty years since it was introduced into England. It 
seems to have come into vogue among the great and 
powerful, sometimes for the purpose of concealing a defect 
in their formal gardens, or perhaps for supplying or pro- 
longing a favourite vista. But it was for the most part 
a mere display of expense and labour, adopted without 
plan, and executed without skill or science. 

Among the earliest and most successful planters on a 
great scale was Count Maurice of Nassau, who figured as 
governor of Brazil in 1636, when that settlement was in 
the hands of the Dutch. This prince was a man of taste 



* Note X. 



THE PLANTEE's GUIDE. 



23 



and elegance for the age in which he lived, and he 
adorned his palace and gardens there with a magTiificence 
worthy of the Satraps of the east. Gaspar Barlseus, one 
of the best poets of his time, is the historian of the expe- 
dition ; and he has given the narrative in a style that, 
in some instances, will bear a comparison with the deline- 
ations of Livy or Tacitus. 

The governor's residence was upon an island, formed 
by the confluence of two rivers, which are called by Bar- 
Iseus the Capevaribis and the Biberibis, and was named 
Friburg. Before the prince commenced his improve- 
ments, as the historian informs us, it was a very hopeless 
subject — a dreary, waste, and uncultivated plain, without 
a tree or bush to shelter it ; and, in a word, equally worth- 
less and unattractive. Here, notwithstanding, he erected 
a splendid palace, and laid out gardens around it of extra- 
ordinary extent and magnificence. In the arrangement 
of the buildings, salubrity, seclusion, and horticultural orna- 
ment were all studiously and tastefully combined. The 
choicest fruits of a tropical climate — the orange, the citron, 
the ananas, with many others unknown to us — solicited at 
once the sight, the smell, and the taste ; while artificial 
fountains of water, preserving the coolness of the air and 
the verdure of the earth, rendered it a spot of peculiar 
attraction. In laying out the grounds, also, such was the 
designer's skiU, and the magnificent scale of the planta- 
tions and grass-plots, that no fewer than thu'teen bastions 
and turrets flanked and defended the gardens, and pro- 
moted alike seclusion and security. And in order to com- 
plete at once, and give the immediate effect of wood to so 
great a change on the face of nature, he removed to the 
spot no fewer than seven hundred cocoa-trees of various 
sizes, of which some rose to thirty, some to forty, and some 
to fifty feet high, to the lowermost branches. 



24 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



Of tlie success of the improvement last mentioned no 
one but the prince himself entertained the slightest expec- 
tation. Yet such, says Barlseus, was the ingenuity, as 
well as persevering labour displayed in the work, that the 
whole was accomplished with the most perfect success. 
Notwithstanding the immense size of the trees, which were 
of seventy and eighty years' growth, they were skilfully 
taken up under the prince's superintendence. They were 
then placed on carriages provided with wheels, and con- 
veyed over a space of from three to four miles in extent, 
and ultimately transported on rafts, across both the rivers, 
to the shores of the island. On being planted there, so 
favourable were both soil and vegetation in that genial 
cHmate that they immediately struck root, and even bore 
fruit during the first year after their removal. Thus, adds 
Barlseus, the truth of the ancient adage was for once dis- 
proved, which says that " it is impossible to transplant 
an old tree with success.'''" 

This, without doubt, was a singular example of success- 
ful transplantation, and not less singular than certain and 
well attested. It was a splendid display of the efi'ects of 
physical strength and mechanical ingenuity, judiciously 
directed by absolute power ; but it is useless as an ex- 
ample of either instruction or imitation. If we impartially 
subduct from it all that may fairly be attributed to a 
tropical climate, to the unlimited command of men and 
money in executing the work, and to the glowing colours 
of the historian in describing it, perhaps there will remain 
little more than what is both probable and natural under 
ordinary circumstances. Barlseus, beyond his general 
eulogium on the great ingenuity, gives no account of the 
details of the process. Indeed, he does not appear to 



* Note XI. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



25 



have been very conversant with tlie subject of wood, from 
the wonder which he expresses at the natural appearance 
of fruit in the first season ; as any gardener could have 
predicted the probability of the phenomenon during the 
first year, together with the certainty of its ceasing dm-ing 
the second. 

Evelyn, although with no great accuracy, narrates the 
same story of Count Maurice, and adds that instances of 
the practice, little less successful, had occurred in Europe. 
He states that, about the middle of the same century, M. 
de Fiat, a Mareschal of France, removed huge Oaks in this 
way at the Chateau de Fiat.'"* The Elector Palatine, about 
the same time, also transplanted a number of great Lime- 
trees, from one of his forests near Heidelberg, to the slope 
of a hill in view of the palace. Midsummer, it seems, was 
the singular time selected for the work ; and De Son, a 
Frenchman, and " an admirable mechanician," as Evelyn 
records it, managed the execution. The soil of the hill 
(according to De Son's account given to Evelyn himself) 
consisted of " a dry, reddish, barren earth," which pro- 
bably with us might have been esteemed good turnip soil. 
Here, he says, they made great pits for the reception of the 
trees. They then cut off their heads ; and having filled 
the pits with a composition of cow-dung diluted with 
water, and worked to the consistency of the finest puddle 
or pap, they immersed the roots in it, and carefully re- 
placed the turf upon the surface as before. These Limes, 
as Evelyn adds, " prospered rarely well," exposed as they 
were, during the whole process, to the scorching rays of the 
sun ; and this he justly considers as "a singular example 
of removing so great trees at such a season;"! or, in 
other words, that it is not easy to kill the Lime, in what- 
ever way you treat it. 

* Silva, vol. i. p. 102. t Silva, vol. i. pp. 102, 205. 



26 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



But Louis XIV. was, without doubt, tlie greatest trans- 
planter of modern times, and the individual whose example 
operated more powerfully than any other in bringing the 
art into fashion in Europe in the seventeenth century. 
From the researches of the learned Jesuits and others, 
who by this prince's order had rendered the classics fami- 
liar to the Dauphin, he learned that the practice was well 
known to the Greeks and Romans ; and he resolved to 
rival, and if possible to eclipse, whatever had been done 
in this way by those distinguished nations. 

Accordingly, among the stupendous changes which he 
made on the face of nature at Versailles, and other royal 
residences, that by means of transplanting was not 
omitted. All the arts of ingenuity, and all the efforts 
of expense and labour, were employed in constructing 
machinery for so novel an undertaking. Under the 
direction of Le Notre, his favourite engineer in this 
department,"' the most extraordinary feats in transplant- 
ing were performed, both at Versailles and Trianon. 
Immense trees were torn up by the roots, erected on 
carriages, and removed at the will and pleasure of the 
royal planter. Almost the whole Bois de Boulogne was 
in this way said to be transported from Versailles to its 
present site, a distance of about two leagTies and a half 
To order the march of an army was the effort of common 
men and every-day commanders ; to order the removal 
of a forest seemed to suit the magnificent conceptions of 
a prince who, in all his enterprises, affected to act upon 
a scale immeasurably greater than that of his contempo- 
raries, and who probably was the most powerful monarch 
in Europe, whether of his own or of any other age. In 
the Bois de Boulogne, in spite of mihtary devastation, 



Note XII. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



27 



tlie curious eye may still distinguish the traces of this 
extraordinary achievement in the rectilinear disposition 
of the trees, which were removed on that occasion. 

Respecting the success of the work, executed probably 
about 1670, it is not easy at this distance of time to 
speak with certainty. That the trees were lopped or 
mutilated we are well aware — and that little science was 
employed, excepting in the mechanical skill displayed in 
the transportation. Of the trees, therefore, many must 
have died for want of roots and of sap to support them, 
although their places were afterwards supplied ; and many 
must have lost their tops had they not been severely 
lopped, or altogether decapitated. The lapse, however, 
of more than a century and a half, a space far surpassing 
the age of man, has supplied these defects. While it has 
brought the trees to maturity, it has covered with oblivion 
all the imperfections of the process; and the former 
promise long to remain a monument of so stupendous an 
exertion of physical force. 

Sturm, a German traveller, who visited France about 
the year 1730, relates that the great transplanting 
machine used on this memorable occasion {Die grosse 
Garten- MachineY^ was still shown at Versailles, and it 
must long after have been seen by others.' But, from its 
late disappearance, we may conclude that it was pulled 
to pieces, and the iron-work probably converted into 
pikes on the breaking out of the French Revolution. 

Besides this celebrated effort in the vicinity of the 
capital, we should be inclined to imagine, from what is 
said by contemporary writers, that Louis succeeded still 
better in the provinces in giving immediate effect to 
wood. At Mont-Louis, a small town in the territory of 



* Sturm's Travels, p. 113. 



28 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



Roiisillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees, which he bnilt and 
embellished, and which was named after him, he made the 
most surprising improvements of every sort ; and unless 
the imagination of a poet of the time has too highly 
coloured the description, the transplanted groves, at this 
sequestered spot, rose with such sudden luxuriance that 
the birds at once flocked to them, and, nestling among the 
branches, filled the air with their melodious notes : — 

In nemus repente natum 

Aves undique devolaiit, 

Nidosque pouunt, hospitis sub frondibus, 

Mulceiites teneris vocibus setliera.* 

About the middle of the seventeenth century, as we 
learn from Evelyn, the practice of transplanting in the 
French way came much into use in England. No tree, 
he observes, was found to bear the process better than the 
Elm, or recover sooner from its severity. He himself, he 
says, " had frequently removed trees of this sort, almost as 
big as his waist.'' But he first carefully " disbranched" 
them, leaving the whole summit entire. Men of rank and 
afiluence, we find, about the same era, transplanted great 
trees of various kinds, with vast labour and expense; and 
a Devonshke nobleman in particular, whose name has not 
been recorded, removed oaks as large as twelve oxen 
could draw, for the pm-pose of supplying a defect in an 
avenue leading to one of his residences.! 

The first attempt at any thing like knowledge in the 
art was made by a Lord Fitzharding of this period. 
That nobleman, as it appears, was a contemporary of 
Evelyn's, and lord-treasurer of the household to King 
Charles 11. But his experiments were limited to subjects 

* Commir. Op. Post. p. 41. f Silva, vol. i. pp. 102, 125. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



29 



of far smaller magnitude. His method with the Oak was, 
to select a tree of the size of his thigh, which probably 
might be about twentj-six or twenty-eight inches in girth. 
Having removed the earth, and cut all the collateral 
roots, he forced it down upon its side, so as to come at 
the tap-root, which was immediately cut off. The tree 
was then raised up ; the mould was returned into the pit, 
and the tree left standing for a twelvemonth or more, 
until a fresh growth of roots and fibres enabled him to 
remove it with advantage. Another method was, after 
laying bare the roots, and leaving four main ones un- 
touched, on the four opposite sides, in the form of a cross, 
for supporting the tree, to cut away only those in the 
intervals. The mould was then, as before, returned into 
the pit. After waiting a year or two, when the intervals 
became completely filled with fresh growths, the four 
cross roots, and also the tap, were then reduced, and the 
tree removed, " with as much of the clod about the roots 
as possible.""' This ingenious process, which in either 
way saved the tree from decapitation, and consequently 
from disfigurement, has been deservedly recorded by 
Evelyn and Wise, and all succeeding writers. 

It must be acknowledged that there was great inge- 
nuity, and some acquaintance with wood, displayed in 
these important improvements by Lord Fitzharding. As 
Grew had by this time written, and the researches by 
both that writer and Malpighi, respecting the anatomy 
and physiology of plants, had begun to be known all over 
Europe, it seems surprising that this ingenious nobleman 
should have stopped here. By advancing a step further, 
and applying those interesting doctrines to the art, he 
might have brought it to a state of certainty and pre- 

* Evelyn's Silva, vol. i. p. 102. Wise's Mystery of Gardening and Planting, 
pp. 91, 92. Bradley, pp. 89, 108, &c. Diet. Rust, in voce Transplanting, &c. &c. 



30 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



cision, to wliicli little could have been added by the 
industry of his successors. It was (to compare great 
things with small) like the ill fortune of the Romans in 
missing the discovery of the art of printing by movable 
types, when, as their pottery indicates, they may be said 
to have possessed that of stereotype. 

In this condition of the art of transplanting, it was still 
necessarily confined, for want of science to direct and 
simplify it, to the grounds of the powerful and opulent ; 
and sundry devices were adopted by their gardeners, and 
other operators, to render the practice more efl&cient, and 
to reduce the expense within moderate limits. Although 
numerous oxen and horses were still employed to drag 
the ponderous load of earth, on which their hopes of 
success mainly rested, yet sundry efforts of ingenuity 
were exerted for the preservation of the roots ; and, as 
the subjects were large, even the assistance of frost was 
called in for that desirable object. Soon after the fall, 
and before hard weather set in, a trench was opened of 
some extent, and at a sufficient distance from the trees, so 
as to undermine the roots. Blocks and quarters of wood 
were next placed in the excavation, to keep up the earth. 
The trench was then filled with water, which was sufi'ered 
to freeze ; and thus an immense and weighty mass of 
earth and roots, bound firmly together by congelation, 
was conveyed with the trees to the situation intended. 
Here, however, it was previously necessary to preserve the 
mould from freezing also, by covering up the surface with 
fresh litter, to some distance round the new pit. 

It deserves particular notice that, in transporting 
these unwieldy subjects, no other than their erect position 
was contemplated by the inventors. By means of a vast 
wooden crane strongly braced with iron, both trans- 
versely and longitudinally, with ropes and pulleys to work 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



31 



it with effect, and of which the former were passed under 
the roots, these enormous masses were raised from the 
ground, and placed upon a platform with very low wheels ; 
when, after being dragged by the united strength of men 
and horses, it was let down into the new pit by similar 
apparatus.'"' These were gigantic operations, and such as 
required machinery of the most powerful and expensive 
kind. It is not a great many years, however, since feats 
of the same description were performed at Blenheim, and 
other large English places : and it sometimes happened, 
when the excavation was made at an uncommon distance 
from the trees, and a sufficient mass of earth obtained for 
supplying the roots with nourishment, that the tops were 
preserved from decay. But we may easily suppose that 
planters only like a governor of Brazil, or a German 
Elector, would undertake the execution. 

From the time of Evelyn to that of Brown, (the well- 
known professor of landscape gardening,) — that is, for a 
period of about threescore years — we hear little of trans- 
planting in England; and had it not been for the exer- 
tions of the latter, and for the kindred art, to which he 
gave so much celebrity, it might have' sunk altogether 
into oblivion. That enterprising genius clearly perceived 
that his fortune had placed him at the head of a new and 
popular school of design, which, from the novelty of its 
attractions, promised ere long to rival painting itself. As 
the new artists possessed already the privilege, not only 
of appropriating the colours, but even of working with the 
materials of nature, so they appeared to want nothing 
but the power of giving immediate effect to their pictures 
in order to facilitate the competition, if it did not alto- 
gether turn the balance in their favour. 



* Evelyn, vol. i. p. 103. Diet. Rust, in voce Transplanting. 



32 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



Witli the view, therefore, of obtaining this decided 
advantage in the construction of his landscapes, Brown 
diligently applied himself to the improvement of trans- 
planting large trees for park effect, and strove with great 
zeal to bring it into repute among his noble and wealthy 
employers. Instead of maintaining the upright position 
of the trees duiing transportation, as had hitherto been 
practised, he devised the method of carrying them hori- 
zontally, and for that purpose constructed the Trans- 
planting Machine, which since his time has been in 
pretty general use. 

This efficient implement was, like most useful contriv- 
ances, of very simple structure. It consisted of a strong 
pole of considerable length, with two high wheels, and 
acting on an iron axle, which was placed at right angles 
to it. At the extremity of the pole there was a smaller 
wheel, that turned on a pivot, and was used for trees of 
more than ordinary magnitude. These two wheels were 
of great strength, made nearly upright, or, in the work- 
man's phrase, very little " dished." A strong cross-bar 
was bolted on the axle, with a space in the middle 
gradually hollowed out for receiving the stem of the tree, 
of whatever size it might be. According to Brown's 
method, the top was pretty severely lopped or lightened, 
and sometimes quite pollarded. The roots were next cut 
round to the depth of the fibres, and only two or three 
feet out from the body, and the machine was brought up 
upon its wheels as close as possible to the tree. The 
pole was set upright, and applied to the stem, to wliich 
it was then lashed in the firmest manner. By a rope 
fixed to the top of the pole, it was, last of all, forcibly 
drawn down by several men^s strength ; and thus the 
stem and the pole of the machine, forming a lever of great 
power, forced or tore up the roots from their under-bed. 



THE PLANTEE's GUIDE. 



33 



with as many fibres adhering to them as escaped lacera- 
tion ; leaving the tree suspended horizontally on the cross- 
bar, and ready to be dra^Yn away root-foremost, as the 
artist might require it. 

This, we must own, was no very gentle treatment 
of the roots, any more than of the branches. Yet 
Brown's improvement possessed the double advantage 
of contributing, by the height of the wheels, to the safety 
of the tree during the transmission ; and, by materially 
increasing the despatch, it proportionally diminished the 
cost of the process. 

Notwithstanding the superior character and elegant 
learning of Messrs Price and Knight, and the weight 
which may be allowed to their authority, it is impos- 
sible for us to conceive that Brown was as destitute 
of genius and talents as they would willingly persuade 
us. The idea is clearly disproved by the prodigious 
extent of his reputation, and of the works in which he 
was employed.''^ It will not, therefore, be thought 
too much to say here, that his genius was of that 
aspiring and ardent sort which fitted him rather for 
bold design than minute detail and patient investiga- 
tion ; and as the character and properties of trees 
formed a study belonging to objects of the latter class, 
it could not very long detain his attention. Besides, 
he perceived that it was by no means applicable to the 
execution of great outlines of wood, how useful soever 
and effective it might become for the foreground and the 
middle distance of the landscape. Be this, however, as 
it may, it appears that the art received no further im- 
provement at his hands, and seemingly as little at those 
of his successors. Even the ingenious contrivance of Lord 

* Note XIII. 

C 



34 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



Fitzharding, to multiply the roots of trees, seems little to 
have attracted his notice. In transplanting, at the 
numerous places which he improved or altered in Eng- 
land, this method was never resorted to. The process 
he followed was a very simple one, namely, to root up 
the trees by the shortest possible method, and convey 
them in the speediest way to their several destinations. 
He preferred, however, to work with his machine during 
frost, when earth, in masses greater or less, would adhere 
to the roots, and be readily lifted with them. As to 
severely defacing, and even pollarding the tops, he con- 
ceived that it carried with it its own apology : and such 
seems still to be the general opinion of planters, down to 
the present period. 

These particulars respecting the practice and machine 
of Brown, at one time the supreme dictator of taste in 
landscape gardening in England, were obtained from two 
of his pupils — the well-known Mr Thomas White, who 
succeeded to a great part of his business in the northern 
counties ; and Mr James Robertson, who was sent down 
to Scotland, about 1750, to lay out Duddingston for the 
late Earl of Abercorn.'"" This task Robertson performed 
with credit to himself, exhibiting all the faults and the 
excellencies of his master. After this his first essay, and 
making some important changes at Hopetoun House, and 
on the park at Dalkeith, he laid out Livingston, Dal- 
housie, Niddry, Whim, Moredun, Culzean, and other 
places in Mid -Lothian and Ayrshire, which, with the 
exception of Blairdrummond, were the earliest examples 
of landscape gardening in Scotland, f 

At all or most of these places Robertson introduced 
the knowledge of the transplanting machine, together with 



* Note XIV. 



f Loudon's Encyclopedia of Gardening, p. 79. 



THE PLANTEE's GUIDE. 



35 



the method of employing it, as interesting to landscape 
gardening ; but few particulars are recorded of the pro- 
gress made by either art on this side of the Tweed. To 
a nation not inconstant nor Tolatile, and certainly poor, 
when compared with their present condition, it was no 
very easy nor grateful undertaking, to demoHsh at once 
their favourite terraces, their formal gardens, and other 
appendages of ancient grandeur, for a new-fangled art of 
which Price wittily said that Horace had long since 
described it in three words ; for its leading merit consists 
in exchanging squares and parallelograms for circles and 
ellipses, — 

" Mutat quadrata rotundis."* 

When such was the only master under whom the art 
of transplanting was studied in Scotland, we shall not 
greatly wonder at the slender advances it has made, or 
rather at the ill success that has attended it, for more 
than half a century. In fact, it may be said that it is 
at this moment in no better condition, as to either skill 
or science, than Robertson left it threescore years since. 
This artist (according to the account given by Hayes of 
his own practice,! which was borrowed from Robertson's) 
was not very nice in his selection of subjects, but took 
them indiscriminately from close woods and open disposi- 
tions, just as either fell in his way ; so that if his method 
was bad, as we have already seen, his subjects must have 
been at least as bad as his method. As to the attempt 
to introduce a better, there is reason to think that, more 
than thirty years since, I myself was probably the first 
planter who made known in Scotland the mode of pre- 
paring the roots of trees as practised by Lord Fitzharding ; 

* Essays on the Picturesque, vol. i. p. 230. f Practical Treatise on Planting. 



36 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



and I believe it now passes with many under the name 
of my method, to the prejudice of the ingenious inventor. 

In a few years after the above period, Robertson was 
invited to Ireland under high and distinguished patron- 
age, viz., that of the Duke of Leinster, Mr OonoUy, Mr 
Hayes of the Royal Irish Academy, and other persons of 
taste and fortune, leaving his business to be managed by 
his nephew George, and James Ramsay, one of the most 
promising of his pupils. Here also Robertson introduced 
the practice of removing large trees, which, under his new 
employers, appears to have come considerably into fashion. 
The machine of Brown was of course carried over with 
him to Ireland ; and Mr Hayes, in his meritorious tract 
on planting and the management of woods, gives an 
account of the implement, and the style of working it as 
then taught, which entirely coincides with that above 
described. Brown's vigorous and short-hand method of 
tearing up the trees by the roots, and rapidly conveying 
them to their new destinations, captivated the lively 
fancy of the Irish planters. Mr Hayes is loud in its 
praise, and decidedly prefers the compendious process of 
the " Scottish engineer" to the more elaborate prepara- 
tions and tedious contrivances of Evelyn and Fitzharding.'" 
Thus it happened, oddly enough, that the Scotch, who 
themselves knew nothing of transplanting, should give 
notable lessons in the art, and have the honour of intro- 
ducing it to notice and'popularity in the sister kingdom, — 

" Qui sibi semitam non sapiunt, alteri monstrant viam." 

From this time, however, it appears that it has made no 
advances among the Irish, as Walker, and others of their 
late writers, pass over the subject without notice. 



* Practical Treatise on Planting, p. 41, &c. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



37 



The principal English authors who of late years have 
treated of the art are Boutcher and Marshall ; and being 
both men of practical skill, as well as various knowledge, 
what they have written is deserving of particular consi- 
deration. About the time when Brown's reputation was 
at its height — that is, between 1750 and 1780 — Boutcher, 
nurseryman in Edinbm^gh, one of the most intelligent 
arboriculturists that this country has produced,'"' with 
the view of promoting the fashionable art of the day, 
struck out what he conceived to be a considerable im- 
provement in the method of removing large trees of all 
sorts. His theory was to equalise, by a gradual and cer- 
tain process, the roots and the branches of trees relatively 
to each other, so as to enable both to perform their func- 
tions successfully, and at any given period. 

With this view he commenced his training on plants 
just out of the seed-bed, and began to fit them, from the 
second year, for their ultimate destination in the lawn or 
park. After standing in the nursery, in the ordinary 
way, for a few years, they were removed to a second 
nursery ; on which occasion extraordinary care was taken 
to prune, dress, and shorten the roots. There they stood, 
two and three feet distant, for three or four years more. 
A third nursery, at still more open order, next received 
them, for a like space of time. A fourth, a fifth, and 
even a sixth removal succeeded, leaving the plants no less 
than ten or twelve feet asunder, but increasing in strength 
and symmetry stiU more than they increased in height. 
At each and all of these reiterated removals the roots, as 
well as the branches, were shortened and pruned with 
extraordinary accuracy, and every attention was bestowed 
to multiply and invigorate the former. "When twenty 

* See Note II. on Sect. I. 



38 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



feet high, or more, and of fifteen and sixteen years' 
growth, the plants were supposed to be ready for ultimate 
removal, by conyeying them on men's shoulders to their 
permanent destinations. By this elaborate course of 
training and discipline, all mutilation of the tops was to 
be avoided ; and in this way he hoped so judiciously to 
second, and even direct the efforts of nature, as should 
render violence useless, and effectually preclude the errors 
which haste or ignorance had hitherto committed.* 

It is to be regretted that this theory, which is suffi- 
ciently ingenious, is impossible to be applied to any 
practical purpose, although it contains valuable lessons 
for the planter of reflection. The time alone which 
would be required for its completion, and the tedious pre- 
paration, and consequent expense incurred by the process, 
(supposing it were even more faultless than it is,) have 
probably prevented its being attempted by any one 
except the ingenious projector. 

Besides this, Boutcher had another plan, on which he 
seems to have highly valued himself, for removing trees of 
a large size that " had stood long in woods and nurseries." 
But the very terms of this proposition, in as far as regards 
the previous situation of the trees, are almost quite 
enough to ensure miscarriage ; and no more needs be said 
about it than this, that it is a better edition of Lord 
Fitzharding's system, but with infinitely worse subjects. 
The roots were to be more elaborately trained, and in 
every way more scientifically treated ; but entire decapi- 
tation is held forth as a leading feature in the plan, which 
that ingenious nobleman had the skill to avoid, f 

The other author to whom we have to refer is Mar- 
shall — an intelligent and voluminous writer on rural 



* Treatise on Forest Trees, p. 14-17, &c. + lb. p. 256-259. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



39 



economics, in the end of the last century. Marshall was 
bj profession a West Indian planter ; but on coming 
home, in 1775, he dedicated his attention to planting and 
landscape gardening, and in general to rm^al affairs, in all 
of which he displayed considerable skill. He is one of 
the few among our writers who studied the removal of 
large trees as an art, and laid down rules to regulate the 
execution. His precepts, therefore, as well as his prac- 
tice, are entitled to regard, not only from their own 
intrinsic value, but as they serve to bring down the 
history of the art nearly to the present day. 

This judicious writer was too well aware of the difficulty 
and hazard of removing large-sized trees of any sort, to prac- 
tise on subjects of great magnitude. For " thinning plan- 
tations," he says, " for removing obstructions, or hiding 
defects, or for raising ornamental groups or single trees 
expeditiously," he conceives that the practice may be 
recommended ; but he declares it to be decidedly " the 
most difficult part of planting," and therefore is of opinion 
that it is inapplicable to general purposes, and not often 
practised, for any purpose, " with uniform success."''^ 

At the various places where Marshall was considted, 
whether as a landscape gardener or a surveyor of estates, 
he frequently gave specimens of transplanting, and these 
were conducted with a skill certainly unequalled by any 
one who had preceded him, and which no one who follows 
him will easily surpass, with the same sort of subjects. 
Yet it is sm^prising that a planter so conversant with 
practice, a man, too, of talents and information hke Mar- 
shall, seems not to have arrived at any acquaintance with 
principles. After succeeding in a manner superior to 
most others, was it not natural that he should have 



* Rm-al Ornament, vol. i. pp.4041. 



40 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



inquired why he so succeeded 1 and that knowledge, 
enlarged by reflection and confirmed bj examples, would 
probably have led him to some general theory that bore 
on practice, and suggested systematic improvement. Had 
he been more acquainted with vegetable physiology and 
the anatomy of plants, he would have seen that trees 
growing in close woods and trees standing in the open 
field are endued with very difi'erent properties ; and that 
something of firmer stamina and greater magnitude than 
what the strength of two or three persons could transport 
was necessary for park- wood, which we expect is to grow 
vigorously, and resist the elements in open exposures.''^ 

His judicious method, however, of preparing the pits ; 
of putting his trees into the ground ; of applying the 
mould, when so put ; of preserving, distributing, and 
dividing the roots, obviously results from an attentive 
study of the difficulties of the art, and, as he himself 
states, from " real practice."t Still his subjects, like 
those of his predecessor Boutcher, were drawn mostly 
from close plantations, for the purpose of thinning them. 
They were, in the same way, conveyed on "men's 
shoulders;" sometimes also on handspikes, and on par- 
ticular occasions on " high timber- wheels.'' The roots 
he cut and multiplied in the same careful manner as is 
directed by Evelyn and Boutcher, but without the numer- 
ous removals recommended by the latter ; from whose 
treatise, however, he seems to have taken the whole of 
that process. 

For the removal of saplings of twenty feet high, and 
from nine to twelve inches in girth, his plan is of con- 
siderable use. In forming side-screens near the mansion- 
house, in which grove and underwood are frequently 



* Rur. Ornam. vol. i. pp. 360, 361. f lb. pp. 43, 356-361. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



41 



united, it will not disappoint tlie planter. In new 
designs he will find it extremely serviceable for raising 
the former, if in low and sheltered situations, where a 
propitious climate is created, and for producing a 
speedier efi'ect than can be expected by the ordinary 
methods. 

Although Marshall had too much taste to wish to 
pollard, or utterly decapitate his trees, still, like most of 
his predecessors, he lopped and lightened the tops, in 
order to " proportion them," as he states, " to the ability of 
the roots.''* Had he advanced the roots to the ability of 
the tops, and preserved entire the fine forms of the latter, 
it would have been a more scientific system. But his 
method of giving gracefulness, and a sort of natural 
elegance to this operation, is so extraordinary that it is 
worth while to quote it, for the amusement of the reader. 
" To head down a tree," he says, " in the pollard manner, 
is very unsightly ; and to prune it up to a mere Maypole, 
so as to leave only a small broom-like head at the top, 
is equally destructive of its beauty. The most rational, 
the most natural, and at the same time the most elegant 
manner of doing this, is to prune the boughs in such a 
way as to form the head of the plant into a conoid, in 
resemblance of the natural head of the Lombardy Poplar, 
and of a size proportioned to the ability of the root. 
Whoever was the inventor of this method of pruning the 
heads of trees deserves infinite credit. It only wants to 
be known, in order to be approved, and we are happy to 
set it growing into universal practice.^f 

In this anxious wish, I apprehend, no planter of taste 
will now probably concur : neither will he feel disposed 
to admire the rationality, naturalness, and elegance," of 



* Rur, Ornam. vol. i. p. 43. t Ibid. 



42 



THE planter's GUTDE. 



the device of fashioning the fine heads of the Oak, the 
Elm, or the Chestnut, after the manner of the Lombardy 
Poplar, the most formal, perhaps, and most unpictm-esque 
of all existing trees. Yet, notwithstanding a few such 
absurdities, we must candidly admit that Marshall was a 
planter of great skill, and a writer of unquestionable 
diligence, and, together with the judicious Boutcher, did 
more to improve the art, than all who had gone before, 
and probably all who succeeded him. 

If there be any other work in our language, or in any 
of the languages of modern Europe, in which the art is 
treated in a preceptive way, or in a way that famishes 
any important materials for bringing its history down to 
our own times, the work has escaped my search. Miller, 
one of the best arboriculturists and phytologists that 
England has ever produced, informs us that in his time, 
that is, in the beginning and middle of the last century, the 
transplanting of large trees had come much into fashion in 
England. Planters, he says, were " in too great haste 
to anticipate the slow but certain effects of time ; and by 
unfortunately adopting the worst possible methods for 
their practice, they were far less assured of attaining the 
end they had in view, (or, more properly speaking, they 
were assured of never attaining it,) namely, the speedy 
acquisition of thriving trees, than if they had begun at 
once by raising them from the seed. This failure he 
mainly attributes to the unnatural and unscientific method 
of lopping or lightening the tops at the time of removal, 
which, as he affirms, is destructive alike of the health and 
the value of trees. He truly observes that, were planters 
fidly aware of the doctrine of the circulation of the sap, 
and the curious anatomy of plants, they would perceive 
that a tree is as much nomished by its branches as by its 
roots. " For," adds he, " were the same severities practised 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



43 



on a tree of the same age, unremoved, it would so mucli 
stint the growth as not to be recovered in several years ; 
nor would it ever arrive at the size of such as had all 
their branches left upon them/^'" 

He is, therefore, no advocate for the removal of large 
trees ; and the reason evidently is, that he never saw 
it executed but on principles utterly at variance with 
phytological science, and the law of nature respecting the 
growth of plants, — for Miller seems to have been well 
acquainted with their history and constitution, and with 
the beautiful action and reaction, which all their parts 
constantly maintain on one another. 

Although it is pleasing to observe so much good sense, 
and so much sound science displayed, at so early a period 
of our arboricultural history, yet it is a curious fact that 
neither the precept nor the example of Miller produced 
any good effect, nor any material change in the general 
practice, and by consequence, any improvement in the 
art. The fact is, that from the days of Evelyn down to 
the present times, or more probably from the time of the 
Romans under Nero and Vespasian, the practice of the 
art has suffered no great alteration or improvement ; and, 
with the best planters of England, it is still as much a 
matter of physical force as it was with Prince Maurice 
of Saxony or Louis XIV. 

I can speak partly from my own knowledge of the 
general transplanting system, now established in England 
and this country, and partly from the information com- 
municated by some of the most experienced planters of 
both countries, in asserting, that the method so justly 
reprobated by the judicious Miller is in pretty general 
use. I will not affirm that there is no planter who pre- 



* Miller's Gardener's and Botanist's Dictionary, voce Planting. 



44 



THE PLANTEe's GUIDE. 



serves the tops of his trees entire ; but the ordinary 
method still is to transfer old trees in the same way as 
nursery-plants — that is, by lopping off a third part, a half, 
and sometimes the whole of the top, erroneously conceiv- 
ing that both can be managed on the same principles.'"' 
They trust implicitly to the plastic powers of the 
trees to replace these amputations with fresh wood, and 
to recover themselves from these severities. But they 
seem entirely to overlook two main objections, that can 
never be obviated — first, the length of time which the 
trees require to recover from any considerable curtailment 
of their heads, and the deaths and failures that occur 
when they do not recover at all ; and secondly, the com- 
plete loss of distinctive and peculiar character which 
ensues, by reducing the heads of the most different trees 
to one monotonous and formal figure. 

In respect to the first objection, it is not easy to speak 
to it with perfect accuracy. In the superior climates of 
England — that is, the districts south of Yorkshire, and 
particularly the Devonshire, Dorsetshire, and Hampshire 
coasts, perhaps the candid planter will admit, that fifteen 
years at least would be necessary to recover any great 
bulk of top, after severe mutilation. In the districts on 
the parallel of Yorkshire, and in the best Scotch climates, 
twenty, and five-and-twenty, would scarcely be adequate ; 
and in many parts of Scotland they would never recover 
at all. 

As to the second, and far more important objection, 
that their distinctive character as trees would be oblite- 
rated, nature has given to different woody plants quite 
different and opposite styles of ramification of top. 
Some, such as the Lime and the Horse-Ohestnut, are 



Note XV. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



45 



heavy and formal ; while the Oak, the Chestnut, and the 
Elm, are far more various and picturesque, and are finely 
calculated to receive great masses of light. But if these 
striking characteristics of the latter be destroyed by the 
axe, by what means shall they regain their former figure'? 
To the painter, not less than to the landscape gardener, 
this loss would be unspeakable, were it carried to any 
extent. It is a fact well known to arboricultural 
observers, that no large subject, once pollarded, ever 
wholly recovers its natural and free conformation, under 
the most propitious circumstances of soil and climate ; 
although it may acquire at last a bushy head, it becomes 
like the Lime — a tree which, unless on the foreground, is 
always formal and monotonous in landscape. 
I May we not, then, fairly conclude that, in the art of 
giving immediate effect to wood, there is sufficient room 
for the improvement of such a system In any view, it 
will be thought of some moment if the most beautiful and 
valuable of all vegetable productions can be saved from 
mutilation — if picturesque effect can at the same time be 
preserved, and many years of life anticipated. 

In fact, it appears that the best writers of the last 
and present century consider the art as purely mechanical 
and fortuitous, and founded on no fixed or known principles. 
Mason, in the most elegant didactic poem of modern 
times, in which an account of the art would certainly have 
been given, as an interesting branch of landscape garden- 
ing, had he regarded it as practical, mentions transplant- 
ing in a very beautiful way indeed, but quite incidentally, 
and merely as a mechanical art : — 

I " Such sentence pass'd, where shall the Dryads fly, 

' That haunt yon ancient vista ? — Pity, sure, 

Will spare the long cathedral aisle of shade 

In which they sojourn. Taste were sacrilege, 



46 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



If, lifting there the axe, it dared invade 

Those spreading oaks, which in fraternal files 

Have pair'd for centuries, and heard the strains 

Of Sydney's, nay, perchance of Surrey's reed. 

Yet must they fall ; unless mechanic skill, 

To save Jier ofispring, rouse at our command, 

And where we bid her move, with engine huge. 

Each pond'rous trunlc, the pond'rous trunh there move ; 

A work of difficulty and danger tried, 

Nor oft successf ul found."* 

From the expressions made use of in this beautiful 
passage, we are led to believe that entire decapitation 
was implied in the process, and that Mason, who was 
himself a planter as well as a poet, considered the neces- 
sity as indispensable. 

Pontej, one of the most extensive and successful 
planters now living, and also a landscape gardener of no 
small distinction, gives his testimony nearly to the same 
effect as Marshall and Mason. In a late practical treatise 
on this pleasing art, (a work which was much wanted,) f 
after stating his anxiety to discover some certain method 
of giving a speedy effect to wood, he gives up the point 
as unattainable, and has recourse to the miserable expe- 
dient of planting Willows and Poplars. Respecting the 
art under consideration, he candidly says — "I am no 
advocate for the removal of quantities of large trees, as 
the business is extremely tedious, and hazardous also. 
And after all, in cases of success, such trees for several 
years grow so slowly as to remind one of the ' stricken 
deer.' It is, indeed, seldom that they harmonise with 
any thing about them. ''if This, we must own, is a judicious 
not less than an obvious remark, and of which no impartial 
person will deny the justice. 

From the view which has been thus taken of the art 

* English Garden, book i. 318. f See Note IV. on Sect. I. 

X Pontej^'s Rural Improver, p. 87. 



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47 



iu Britain, it may probably be said that it has advanced 
little within a century, whether in respect of skill or 
science. Of late years, however, some successful examples 
have been given of what may be called horticultural 
transplantation, that is, the removal of large shrubs and 
trees of an ornamental or exotic species. At the Royal 
Gardens of Kew, during the reign of his late Majesty, 
this was done on a considerable scale, and with extra- 
ordinary success ; but I have not been able to obtain any 
detail of the process. 

About three years since, Dr Robert Graham, Professor 
of Botany in the University of Edinburgh, on changing 
the site of the Botanical Garden at that place, contrived 
to remove a vast number of plants of great rarity and 
value, and which, had they been lost, many years of the 
most diligent culture in the ordinary manner would not 
have replaced. Previously to the taking up, he followed 
the ingenious method of Lord Fitzharding, in cutting 
round the plants, which, properly speaking, should all 
have stood for two or three years after, in order to gain 
an accession to their roots ; but some local arrangements 
having deprived them of that advantage, a great part 
were suffered to stand only for a single season. Such, 
notwithstanding, was the extraordinary care bestowed 
upon them by the ingenious professor, and the skill and 
diligence of his gardener Mr M'Nab, that the removals 
were executed with a safety which could scarcely have 
been anticipated. In order to give still greater variety 
and effect to the new garden, forest trees also of various 
kinds, and considerable dimensions — some of them from 
thirty to forty feet high — were at the same time trans- 
ferred from the old ground to the new. 

The method adopted was to raise as great a mass or 
ball of earth as possible with the plants, and that was 



48 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



carefully matted up in order to preserve it entire. The 
plants were then put upon a platform with four very low 
wheels, in an upright position, (as was practised in the 
time of Evelyn,) and transported about a mile and a-half 
to the new garden. In removing the trees, owing to the 
immense friction occasioned by the lowness of the wheels, 
ten and twelve horses were occasionally employed ; so 
that the procession through the suburbs for many days, 
consisting of men and horses, and waving boughs, pre- 
sented a spectacle that was at once novel and imposing. 
The citizens of Edinburgh were surprised and delignted 
with the master of an art which seemed more powerful 
and persuasive than the strains of Orpheus, in drawing 
after it, along their streets, both grove and underwood of 
such majestic size — 

" Threi'cio blandiiis Orpheo 
Auditam moderari arboribus fidem." 

On arriving at the place of their new destination, where 
the ground had been prepared at great expense, and forced 
up to the depth of three feet or more, the trees and 
bushes were carefully planted. Numerous ropes, fastened 
pretty high from the ground, and extending from the 
stems to the distance of from twelve to four-and-twenty 
feet out, in the fashion of a well-pitched bell-tent, pinned 
them to the spot with immovable firmness, so that injury 
from wind seemed altogether impossible. In this way, as 
may be easily conceived, little or no loss of plants could 
be sustained by the operation : the depth and richness 
of the soil; the sheltered site of the garden, almost as 
low as the level of the sea ; the steadfastness of the 
plants, in consequence of their fastenings ; added to 
careful waterings daily repeated, almost precluded con- 
tingency. 



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49 



As to the expense attending the process, it were need- 
less, as well as invidious, minutely to investigate it ; as it 
could be no object in a royal institution, when compared 
with the successful preservation of plants of such uncom- 
mon value. A list of some of the most remarkable, with 
their several dimensions, will be found in the notes, and 
may interest the botanical reader.''^' 

For this achievement in horticultural transplanting, the 
most splendid probably ever known in Britain, the learned 
professor is entitled to the highest praise. It shows 
what may be done in this art by the united efforts of 
industry and ingenuity. Yet although the whole was 
very ably and royally executed, and must prove interesting 
to others placed in like circumstances, it furnishes no 
example for general imitation or park practice. All the 
prominent difficulties with which the ordinary planter has 
to contend — namely, want of climate and soil, and of 
genial warmth resulting from exposure to the elements — 
were here removed or obviated. The trees in this 
favourite spot were like the products of nature in the 
" happy valley of Rasselas, " in which all the blessings 
of vegetation were collected, and the evils extracted and 
excluded." To succeed, therefore, with removals on the 
open lawn would require a different system, as well as 
very different subjects. 

It now only remains to say something of the progress 
of the art on the continent of Europe within the last 
century ; and on that subject there is little to be told. 
The two countries whose example during this period has 
been most generally influential, are England and France. 
Landscape gardening originated in the former country ; 
and it was naturally to be expected that, with a character 



* Note XVI. 



50 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



SO attractive, so captivating to the imagination as well as 
the senses, the taste for it would soon be spread among 
her continental neighbours. It was justly remarked by 
Walpole,''^" a very accurate observer, that our style in this 
new art would never, in all likelihood, be brought into 
general use among those nations. The expense being 
suited only to the opulence of a free country, it is there 
alone that emulation could reign among a number of 
independent individuals. The little princes of Germany, 
he observes, who spare no cost on their palaces and 
country residences, would be themselves likely to become 
our imitators, especially as their country and climate bear 
in many respects an intimate resemblance to our own. 

It is now about threescore years since Walpole wrote, 
and it is remarkable how well his anticipations have been 
verified. While the French in general have little culti- 
vated landscape gardening, a real taste for it has by 
degrees extended itself aU over Germany, Hungary, Poland, 
and the northern parts of Europe. From this observation 
respecting France, I except, of course, a few places in the 
neighbourhood of Paris, which have been laid out in a 
superior way, in imitation of the English style — such as 
Arnouville, Courances, Mar^eau, Chantilly, and above 
all Ermenonville, the pride of French gardening, f The 
rest are such examples as Frenchmen might be expected 
to produce of an art which, in its character, is essentially 
and radically English. 

The remarks of Walpole may, in a great measure, be 
applied to the art of giving immediate effect to wood, as 
being one of the most important accessories to that of 
creating or improving real landscape. Since the time of 
Louis XIV., there is no reason to think that transplant- 

* Anecdotes of Painting in England, vol. iv. 

t Hirschfeld, Theoric der Gartenkunst, Band v. p. 258—267, &c. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



51 



ing has made great advances in France. The magnificent 
and expensive scale on which the efforts of that prince 
were conducted, rather discouraged than invited imita- 
tion or competition. The French nobihty and gentry, in 
former times, never resided much on their estates ; and 
the Revohition, which has changed many other things, has 
made little alteration on their taste for rural pleasures. 
What a man has not frequently under his eye, he feels 
little desire to improve or embellish. The freedom and 
freshness of natural scenery can have few charms for him 
who is taught to consider Paris as the undoubted centre 
of all earthly enjoyment; and another century might pass 
away ere a true-born Frenchman could either acquire or 
comprehend this species of British predilection. The art, 
therefore, of giving immediate effect to wood, like that of 
creating real landscape, is now regarded, as heretofore in 
France, in the light of a mechanical process, fortuitously 
practised, and little valued for either ornament or use. 

Madame de Sevigne mentions, in one of her letters, 
that at her country-seat, " aux Rochers,'' they raised great 
woods, and transplanted trees of thirty and forty feet 
high. This account is very vague and unsatisfactory, as 
she says nothing of the means which were employed to 
accomplish the work. But Madame de Sevigne probably 
I told all she knew ; and we may believe they did their 
best to follow the example set by the Grand Monarque, 
although with inferior powers of execution. At present 
in France, as we travel along, we frequently see trees 
of some size, which have been transferred in order to 
decorate the sides of the roads. The mode of pro- 
ceeding seems to be the same as that directed by Evelyn, 
(who probably borrowed it from the French,) namely, to 
raise the tree by the ordinary methods ; to lop and dis- 
branch it completely ; and then, in planting it anew, to 



52 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



leave nothing but the summit entire. The small-leaved 
Elm is the species of tree generally adopted for this pur- 
pose, in some districts, but in others the Walnut, the 
Oak, and the Poplar. 

In Germany and Poland it is altogether different with 
respect to national taste and characteristic habits. The 
country residences of the great and wealthy are much 
more frequently inhabited by the owners ; and in Poland 
especially, they have been of late years laid out in a style 
more truly EngHsh, and with great magnificence. Not- 
withstanding a grotesque mixture, on some occasions, of 
that style with their former rectilinear features, their 
parks and pleasure-grounds often exhibit a rudeness and 
wild grandeur of scenery which are" rarely found in 
England, and which Wales or Scotland can scarcely rival. 
It is in such hands that the art of transplanting might 
produce the best effects ; and there is no want of situa- 
tions to profit by its assistance, were the art placed upon 
principles that could ensure success. 

As it is, we find that it has already been practised on 
a large scale by several of the German princes. At 
Potsdam, Frederick II., and at Warsaw, the last King of 
Poland, transferred some thousands of large trees, in order 
to embellish the royal gardens at those places. At 
Lazenki, in the suburbs of Warsaw, the well-known but 
unfortunate Stanislaus displayed that taste and ingenuity 
for which he was so distinguished, in laying out the palace 
and grounds in a style that, for luxurious magnificence, 
has perhaps never been surpassed since the days of the 
Roman emperors. To this favourite spot he removed 
some thousands of trees and bushes, for the improvement 
of the park, which, together with the gardens, was fre- 
quently thrown open to the pubhc. On these occasions 
the most splendid entertainments were given to the court 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



53 



and principal inhabitants of the capital, which are still 
recollected ^Yith feelings of delight. The method of 
remoying the trees was to lop and deface them in the 
ordinary fashion, and of course to curtail the roots, and 
then plant them in an irregular way, or sometimes leaning 
to one side, the better to imitate nature. Hence, after 
the interval of many years, late trayellers have found, at 
all these royal residences, evident marks of such opera- 
tions in the mutilated appearance of the trees. '''^ 

The Czar Peter, and the Empress Catherine of Russia, 
made similar attempts to procure the immediate effect of 
wood at Zarsco-Zelo, and other palaces in the vicinity of 
Petersburg, on which operations immense sums were laid 
out by those magnificent sovereigns. The trees were usually 
raised during the winter, and removed in the time of 
frost, with vast balls of earth adhering to the roots, and 
cautiously placed in the same position, as to the north and 
south, which they had previously occupied. On these 
occasions the tops of the trees were severely reduced, 
and so completely disfigured that they seldom recovered 
the operation. The King of Bavaria, likewise, has of late 
made many removals at his summer palace near Miinich, 
on the same defective principles, and with no better suc- 
cess. Count Potocki, about ten years since, at his seat of 
Talitzin in the Ukraine, seems to have been more skilful, 
or more fortunate. In order to please and surprise the 
Countess, his stepmother, on her arrival at home, after 
some months' absence, he successfully removed a double 
row of Lime-trees, of more than twenty feet in height, as 
an avenue to the house. 

The universal complaint, however, in all these countries, 
as among ourselves, is the constant decay of the tops, in 
spite of previous mutilation ; and that even, were that 

* Note XVII. 



54 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



process successful in insuring the after vigour of the trees, 
(which it is far from doing,) still their beauty would 
thereby for a long while be lost. It is true that time, 
the great restorer of defects, as well as destroyer of beauty, 
among the vegetable tribe, may partially cover these 
imperfections. But the immediate effect of wood, and 
the dehghtful creation of park-scenery, are thus missed by 
the planter himself, as his subjects, for years, look like the 
sickly offspring of art, not the free produce of nature. It 
seems, therefore, evident that some better and more 
scientific system is still wanting for the advancement of 
transplanting — a system which should unite certainty of 
success with a moderate expenditure — in order to bring 
the art into general use. 

Thus I have endeavoured to give, as briefly as possible, 
the history and progress of the art of removing large trees, 
from the earliest times down to the present. We have 
seen that it was a practice well known to the Greeks — 
always considered as desirable, but next to impossible to 
be carried into effect, by that ingenious people : that in 
the hands of the Romans, if it did not altogether retro- 
grade, it was in a condition little better than that in 
which the Greeks had left it : that in modern Europe it 
revived with the revival of learning, and seemed for a 
while to advance with the improvements of luxury — in 
the hands, however, of one of the most powerful monarchs 
that Europe ever saw, it did not rise beyond the rank of 
a mechanical art : and finally, in those of the most 
cultivated nation of modern times — a nation, too, which 
has added one more to the number of the fine arts — it still 
remains a practice without a foundation in fixed principles. 
It is regarded by their best practical writers as wholly 
unfit for general purposes, as limited in its application, 
and hazardous and uncertain in its execution. 



THE PLANTEE'S GUIDE. 



'55 



Yet, in this state of things, there is reason to suspect, 
that a prejudice still exists, at least in England, against 
any attempt to supply these defects, and to raise it to the 
rank of a regular art. In either division of the island 
the attempt will be deemed a bold one, and by some 
treated as altogether visionary. The only ground on 
which I venture to look for a different result in my own 
country, is not laid in any fanciful theory, however in- 
genious, but in the laws of vegetation plainly applied to 
practice. In attaining the object, I shall strive, in the 
words of a great orator, (which have been chosen to grace 
my title-page,) " so to adopt the ministration of art as 
humbly to imitate nature ; to tread in her footsteps, 
wherever they are to be found, and to strike out a kindred 
path wherever they are wanting," It is on such prin- 
ciples alone that I can hope to communicate to this 
neglected practice some stability from arrangement, and 
some light from science. 



SECTION III. 



ATTEMPT TO SUGGEST A NEW THEORY, OR PRINCIPLE 
OF THE ART. 

From tlie cursory view which has been given of the 
rise and progress of transplanting, from the earliest times 
down to the present, it appears, notwithstanding the 
objections of some ingenious men, that it is an art worthy 
of an attentive cultivation ; and that, if it could be estab- 
lished on principles founded in nature, and confirmed by 
experience, it might, within a short period, become exten- 
sively useful. 

The best-informed phytologist who has treated the 
subject is the judicious Miller, the author of the Gardener s 
and Botanist's Dictionary— a work which, in the enlarged 
edition of Professor Martyn of Cambridge, should be 
dihgently studied by every planter of education. On the 
art in question this accurate observer has no formal dis- 
quisition ; but in the article " planting" he has introduced 
some strictures on the practice of removing large trees as 
it was in his time prevalent, and some general objections 
to the art itself, which are deserving of attention. These, 
then, it would be proper to consider in the outset, before 
we proceed to inquire respecting the improvement of the 
art. His main objection to the then existing system 
(which, as we have seen in the foregoing chapter, is pre- 
cisely that of modern planters) is, that the lopping or 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



57 



mutilating the tops and side branches of trees, and still 
more the decapitating of them, is utterly destructive of 
theu' health and growth ; and that, whatever other 
advantages might be supposed to attend the art, that 
alone is sufficient to neutralise or counterbalance them. 
It was this weighty objection, brought forward by Miller, 
that first led me to bestow particular attention on the 
subject, and to seek for some general theory or principle 
which, if founded on the laws of nature, as affecting woody 
plants under difi^erent circumstances of climate and soil, 
might serve to regulate and improve the practice. 

But independently of all partial faults that might be 
found with transplanting, as now generally practised, 
Miller objects to all transplantation whatever, whether of 
young trees or old. Every tree, he holds, in order to 
reach the greatest size and perfection of which it is sus- 
ceptible, should be raised at once from the seed : to 
remove it at all is sensibly to deteriorate it. Therefore 
it follows, that if by removal, when young, it suffer injury, 
it must by the same process, when old, suffer much greater 
injury. On this opinion of the expediency of sowing the 
seeds of trees, instead of transferring plants from the 
seed-bed to the nursery, and thence to the open planta- 
tion, he is not singular, as the doctrine has been sup- 
ported, both before and since his time, by very eminent 
phytologists : while others, of no small weight and name, 
have as strenuously taken up the adverse side of the ques- 
tion, and maintained, that plants may not only be safely 
transferred from the seed-bed to the nursery, before being 
planted out, but that woods raised with such materials 
possess advantages which those at once springing from 
the seed can never possess.'''' These different systems. 



* Note I. 



58 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



within the two last centuries, have been widely propa- 
gated, and as keenly supported ; and, as the mass of 
mankind never think for themselves, it so happens that 
the art of transplanting has its friends and its enemies, 
its advocates and its opponents, among the learned and 
the unlearned. 

Without entering into so extensive and intricate a 
question as the above, (which, however, might lead to 
many interesting details,) let us see what the objections 
of so judicious a writer as Miller are, to the transplanting 
of trees of considerable magnitude ; because, if we either 
admit those objections as relevant, or obviate them as 
unfounded, it will pave the way for some rational theory 
of the art. 

The objections brought forward by Miller seem to be 
three in number. The first and radical one, as above 
noticed, is to the lopping or cutting off the tops or side 
boughs, or both, at the period of removal, as utterly ruin- 
ous to trees. This objection, he says, is obviously so well 
founded, that no one will stand up for the safety of the 
practice who is acquainted with the way in which the 
circulation of the sap is carried on ; for in that case he 
must know, that branches being organs just as essential 
as roots to the nourishment of trees, it must be doubly 
destructive to mutilate both, at one and the same time. 
If any one, he adds, doubt the fact, let him try the experi- 
ment on a healthy subject of the same age, not intended 
for removal, and he will find that mutilation will so stint 
its growth that it will not recover till after several years, 
if it recover at all ; and it will never attain the same size 
and figure, or produce the same sound and perfect wood, 
as others on which the branches have been left in an 
entire state. Or otherwise, let him make the trial on 
two trees of equal age and health, and cut the boughs 



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59 



from the one, while he leaves them, at the time of trans- 
planting, on the other ; in that case the latter will be 
found to succeed far better than the former. Or, let 
him practise the same thing on two permanent trees of 
equal health and appearance ; and the tree of which the 
boughs are lopped will not be found to make half the 
progress of the other, nor will the bulk of the stem 
increase in nearly the same ratio."" 

But, say the planters who advocate the mutilating 
system, since the roots are severely curtailed by the 
operation of taking up, the branches must necessarily be 
curtailed in proportion, and suited to the ability of the 
roots, whose province it is to sustain the branches. If, 
however, there be any truth in the foregoing statement, 
and that it be reciprocally the province of the branches 
also to nourish the roots, that argument, how specious 
soever, must fall to the ground; for it is obviously calcu- 
lated to make bad worse, by subjecting the tree to two 
evils instead of one, to which it must at all events be 
subjected. Besides, these reasoners are well aware, that 
if they abstained from the lopping of the top and 
branches, and left them entire, the greater part would 
decay during the first season, for want of nourishment, to 
the utter discredit of their system. The objection of 
Miller, therefore, is perfectly unanswerable. It would be 
quite superfluous to add any further illustrations, however 
conclusive, drawn from the constitution or anatomy of 
plants, as these will more properly be brought forward in 
the sequel. 

His second objection is, that if trees be removed with 
large heads, it is next to impossible to maintain them 
against the violence of the wind, in an upright position, 



* Note II. 



60 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



with the aid of supports or fastenings of whatever species. 
To this it may be answered, that almost all trees with 
large heads have short and stout stems with correlatiye 
roots; and at all events, that by art skilfully employed, 
roots may be increased to the ability of the tops, and 
almost incredibly multiplied, if time be given for nature 
to second the efforts of art. Besides the nourishment 
which is prepared by the leaves, sent down to the stem, 
and ultimately, by means of the branches, to such exten- 
sive roots, the branches and stem together serve to 
balance the tree properly against the winds ; so that, 
when due precautions are used, an extensive top is an aid 
rather than an impediment to the progress of trees, and 
may be rendered advantageous by a skilful planter. 

The third and last objection is, that transplanted trees 
do not survive above five or six years after being so inju- 
diciously removed as above described, and their boughs 
mutilated : that in a particular instance, which Miller 
quotes, where Oaks were so treated, and where they were 
found to thrive beyond all expectation in the beginning, 
they yet died at the end of fifty years; whereas, accord- 
ing to the characteristic properties of that tree, they 
should then have been increasing in vigour. To which it 
may be fairly replied, that the occurrence of such mis- 
carriages evidently proceeds upon the supposition, that 
the injurious practice of lopping the tops and side 
branches is still to be continued ; when on the contrary, 
by an improved practice, as soon as that cause is removed, 
the evils that flowed from it will be removed in con- 
sequence. As to the effects of fifty years' growth on 
transplanted trees, it is not so easy to speak; but at the 
place from which these pages are dated, some Oaks, 
Beeches, and Limes are to be seen, nearly forty years 
after removal; and those trees have constantly exhibited 



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61 



progressive yigoiu^ in an extraordinary degree, and might 
now be taken for plants raised without remoyal from the 
seed. 

Such are the objections against transplanting which 
have been urged by Miller, and which the reputation of 
the man, not less than the nature of the objections them- 
selves, rendered worthy of particular notice. If we yield 
to the first objection, which we must do, as being quite 
conclusive; if we obviate the second and third, which I 
conceive has been satisfactorily done, perhaps we may 
venture to believe that there is good ground for suggest- 
ing a rational theory of the art, such as probably would 
have been sanctioned by this intelligent phytologist him- 
self, notwithstanding his prejudices, and, what is still 
more important, has been sanctioned by experience. 

On considering the causes that have hitherto rendered 
this desirable object abortive, they appear to be of a two- 
fold description. In the first place, they have originated 
in a general want of science in planters, which has natu- 
rally led them to a mistaken choice of subjects. And in 
the second place, they have sprung from the belief, which 
most planters seem to entertain, that young trees and old 
possess similar properties, and that therefore they should 
be removed on similar principles. But there is no doc- 
trine more fallacious than this, and none which it is more 
important to refute. In a concise inquiry which is about 
to be instituted, in order to point out some sound theory 
or principle of the art, both of these obstructing causes 
shall be kept in view, and illustrated in as clear a manner 
as possible. 

If we take a survey of nature in all the forms under 
which existence is manifested, we shall perceive with 
admiration the wisdom of the Creator in accommodating 
every animate and inanimate being to the economy of a 



62 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



universal and connected plan. By His incompreliensible 
power, every organised production is adapted to tlie 
place wliich it is destined to occupy in the world of life ; 
and every organ of every living whole is curiously modi- 
fied to the circumstances which affect the exercise of its 
functions, and to the conditions which regulate the devel- 
opment of its energies. Every organised is necessarily 
a living production. Every living production, whether 
animal or vegetable, tends naturally to perfect existence ; 
and perfect existence is contained in the full develop- 
ment of all the parts or organs tlirough which action 
is evolved, and, consequently, in which life is realised: 
for life is manifested by action ; and living vigour must 
be proportionate to spontaneous energy in every being 
endowed with life. 

But while every organic creation tends to full develop- 
ment, that is, to absolute energy, or the perfection of its 
species, still we find that the organs of which it is com- 
posed are each reciprocally dependent on every other, 
for tlie possibility and degree of their peculiar action. At 
the same time, as these internal conditions of animated 
existence are severally dependent on certain external 
conditions, which again are not always fully and equally 
supplied; so it follows that the life of every organised 
being is determined in its amount, and in the direction of 
its development, by the outward circumstances of its 
individual situation. For this reason we see that every 
animal, and every plant, is dependent for its existence, 
and also for its perfect existence, on conditions both 
internal and external. 

From this reasoning it may be conceived how the 
several parts of the living whole reciprocally act and react. 
They are, in fact, cause and effect mutually ; and no one 
can precede another, either in the order of nature or of 



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63 



time. Thus, in an animal, the digestive and the absor- 
bent, the sanguineous, the respiratory, and the nervous 
systems, are at once relative and correlative. In like 
manner, in a plant, the same reciprocal proportion is 
found to hold between the roots and the stem, the 
branches and the leaves : each modifies and determines 
the existence of all the others, and is equally affected by 
all in its turn. And as their several parts, by means of 
their union, constitute the organic whole ; and as their 
functions by the same means realise the complement of 
life which the plant or animal exhibits ; so it is evident 
that every living individual is a necessary system, in 
which no one part can be affected without affecting the 
other parts, and throughout which there reigns an inti- 
mate sympathy, and a complete harmony of perfection 
and imperfection. 

Further, the external conditions of this internal devel- 
opment of plants and animals, are food, air, heat, and 
probably water; while light, according to most physiolo- 
gists, seems to be a peculiar condition, indispensably 
necessary to plants.'"'' Where any one of these condi- 
tions is not supplied, the existence of life, whether animal 
or vegetable, becomes impossible ; where it is insuf&ciently 
supplied, life is proportionally enfeebled or repressed. 
But to limit our consideration to the vegetable kingdom, 
it may be observed, that where a loose and deep soil 
affords an abundant supply of food, where a genial climate 
diflPuses warmth in an adequate degree, and where a 
favourable exposure allows a competent access of light, 
(for air, being fully and universally given, may be thrown 
out of the case) — in these circumstances a plant, if not 
mechanically injured, will vigorously exercise its functions, 



* Note III. 



64 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



and attain the full development of its parts, thus realising 
the absolute complement of life, to which it naturally 
tends. In the same way, when these conditions are 
stinted, the luxuriance of the plant is checked in the 
ratio of that restraint, and the deficiency of the supply. 
Where any one of the external conditions is partially or 
inadequately supplied, the plant appears to make special 
and even forced efforts to secure as much of the beneficial 
influence as it can, and to accommodate itself to the 
exigency of its situation. Thus, where light is admitted 
only from a single point, a plant concentrates all its 
powers in stretching towards the direction of the light. 
Where light is shed all around, the plant throws out its 
branches on every side. In conformity with this prin- 
ciple, we find that, in the interior of a wood, where the 
trees mutually impede the lateral admission of light, the 
tendency of each is upwards ; and the consequence of 
this tendency is, that the plant is thereby not developed 
in its natural and perfect proportions, but is elongated, 
or drawn up to an undue height. It displays its rami- 
fication chiefly near the top ; while the imperfection of 
its life is manifested in the whole character of its vege- 
tation. In open exposures, on the other hand, the tree 
develops its existence in full health and luxuriance. It 
reaches a height such as the soil and situation admit, and 
sufficient to allow the branches, which are thrown out on 
every side, to expand their leaves freely to the sun. Not 
being compelled to concentrate its effbrts, in securing a 
scanty supply of one beneficial influence, all its propor- 
tions are absolute and universal, not relative and parti- 
cular. In such circumstances, therefore, it may be con- 
sidered as in a full and natural state of perfection. 

Another condition of vegetable life appears to be an 
adequate degree of heat. Within a certain range of 



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65 



temperature, vegetation is positively promoted. Below 
or above a certain point, (the degree differing in different 
species of plants,) vegetation is positively checked. To 
speak only of the latter case, which is briefly expressed by 
the term cold, it is either produced by absolute lowness 
of temperature, or, in particular circumstances, by the 
generation of cold, through the effect of wind, and con- 
sequent evaporation from a moist surface; for trees in 
themselves have but little self-generated heat above the 
surrounding temperature; and their chemical composition 
is such that they do not congeal, unless the cold be of 
the severest sort, and many degrees below the freezing 
point of water. Some caloric, however, they probably 
possess, otherwise they would be killed in very hard 
weather, or rather on the too sudden return of heat.''^ 

Of the above accidents nature can modify the former, 
by accommodating different species of plants to different 
latitudes and elevations. Against the latter, she adopts 
the plan of affording suitable protection to the individual. 
In the interior of woods, where the free current of air is 
intercepted, where stillness and serenity are maintained, 
j and where each tree affords shelter more or less to every 
I other, nature has little need to generate the provisions 
necessary to mitigate the injurious effects of evaporation. 
I But in open exposures, and in the case of isolated trees, 
1 this effect must be assuaged, and is in fact to a certain 
I extent alleviated, by various provisions or properties 
bestowed upon the tree itself In the first place, a 
thicker and closer ramification of the sides and top is 
i supplied, and a more abundant spray towards the stormy 
i quarter, thereby famishing a kind of clothing of leaves, 
in order to protect from cold both the ascending and the 

* Note IV. 

E 



66 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



descending sap-vessels : and secondly, a greater indura- 
tion of the epidermis, and thickness of the cortical layers 
of the bark are provided ; which, forming a bad conductor 
of heat, act as a still more effectual defence to the stem, 
by preventing the immediate and powerful application of 
cold, through the sudden subtraction of caloric from the 
proper vessels of the inner bark. 

In this economy, natm-e only follows the analogy which 
she displays in modifying the influence of cold upon the 
animal kingdom. The quadrupeds which are destined to 
encounter the severity of an Arctic winter, are provided 
with thick and shaggy coats, to enable them to withstand 
the intensity of the cold ; and all the richest furs which 
man employs to supply his natural, or rather his artificial 
wants, are always furnished by animals inhabiting the 
highest latitudes, and killed duiing the severest frosts. 
What is still more illustrative of the point under consider- 
ation is, that the coats of animals, of which the thin and 
short hair is familiar to us in the temperate climates — such 
as the dog, the fox, and the ox— are all remarkable, under 
the polar regions, for their close, lengthened, and almost 
impenetrable fibre, as a secure barrier of non-conducting 
matter to prevent the escape of their vital heat.''^ 

In like manner, in all the other relations, we see nature 
especially accommodating the character of each individual 
plant to the exigencies of its particular situation. In the 
interior of woods, the wind can exert a far less mechanical 
efi*ect on individual trees ; and therefore, while they are 
positively determined to push upwards towards the light, 
they are negatively permitted to do so by the removal of 
any necessity to thicken their trunks, for the sake of 
greater strength, and to contract the height of them, in 



* Note V. 



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67 



order to aflford the blast a shorter lever against the roots. 
But with trees in an open situation, all this is widely 
different. There they are freely exposed to the wind, 
and the large expansion of their branches gives every 
advantage to the violence of the storm. Nature, accor- 
dingly, bestows greater proportional thickness, and less 
proportional elevation, on trees which are isolated, or 
nearly so ; while their system of root, which by necessity 
is correlatively proportional to their system of top, affords 
likewise heavier ballast and a stronger anchorage, in 
order to counteract the greater spread of sail displayed 
in the wider expansion of the branches. 

Every individual tree is thus a beautiful system of 
quahties, specially relative to the place which it holds in 
creation — of provisions admirably accommodated to the 
peculiar circumstances of its case. Here everything is 
necessary, nothing is redundant. In the words of a 
great philosopher, who was an accurate observer of nature, 
" Where the necessity is obviated, the remedy by con- 
sequence is withdrawn.^'* If these facts and reasonings 
be correctly stated, the only rational theory of the removal 
of large trees consists in prospectively maintaining the 
same harmony, between the existing provisions of the 
tree and the exigencies of its new situation, as had pre- 
viously subsisted between its relative properties and the 
circumstances of its former site. That such is the only 
rule, founded on the principles of vegetation, that can 
apply to aU circumstances and all situations, there cannot 
be a doubt. But lest the foregoing reasonings should 
seem rather abstract and general, I will, in order to 
reduce theory to practice, attempt a more popular detail, 
and descend from the remoter to the more proximate 



* Note VI. 



68 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



axioms of the art. In doing this, however, our considera- 
tion may be limited to the vegetable kingdom. 

Nature, as has been observed, has destined trees to 
grow, more or less vigorously, in all situations, from those 
of the thinnest groups in the highest latitudes, to the 
densest masses and the most sheltered woods ; and for 
this purpose she has conferred provisions or properties 
upon each, which are severally adapted to such circum- 
stances. Now, as the business of transplanting, generally 
speaking, implies increased exposure, it is proper to 
inquire more minutely into these provisions, so as to 
enable us to ascertain their peculiar appearance and cha- 
racter, and into the way in which they affect the growth 
of trees. 

With this view, it will serve little purpose to draw 
examples from ordinary plantations. Let us have recourse 
to ancient forests and woodlands, or to parks long since 
planted, in which the hand of man has either never inter- 
fered, or where the vestiges of his interference have been 
long obliterated. Here we shall find trees in every 
variety of situation, but endued with properties of the 
most opposite sort. Yet all grow with relative luxuriance, 
under the circumstances in which they are placed. Of 
trees in the interior of woods, setting aside all technical 
or phytological distinctions, the following are found to be 
the general characteristics : stems , upright and stately ; 
bark, glossy and beautiful ; tops small, and thinly pro- 
vided with branches ; with roots, in the same way, spare 
and scanty, but in due proportion to the tops. In open 
exposures, on the other hand, the reverse of all this is the 
case. The characteristics of these are the following : 
stems, stout and short; bark, thick and coarse; tops, ex- 
tensive and spreading ; branches, often reaching to the 
ground; with roots extensive like the tops, and throwing 



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69 



themselves out on every side. What, then, are we to 
condude from these remarkable discrepancies between 
trees of the same species, although in different situations, 
but that nature, which orders nothing in vain, has be- 
stowed these properties for wise purposes, and that they 
are the best calculated, respectively, to realise in those 
trees as great a complement of life as their respective 
circumstances will admit ? 

This conclusion naturally leads us to a closer attention 
to the progress of wood than is usually bestowed upon it. 
In infancy, that is, in the seed-bed or nursery-ground, 
we find that all plants of the same sort are alike, or 
nearly so. But in a year, and still more in many years, 
when they go out to form plantations, they experience a 
great diversity of treatment, and are placed in soil of 
various qualities, and in various degrees of exposure. To 
these vicissitudes the plastic powers of plants in process of 
time accommodate themselves ; so that, in point of form, 
character, and properties of every sort, they must essen- 
tially vary from one another, and acquire the properties 
most suitable to such soils and situations. It is for this 
reason that to establish any just analogy between the 
transplanting of young trees and the transplanting of old 
is utterly impossible, whatever may be believed by most 
planters to the contrary ; because, the circumstances in 
both cases being changed, the subjects under their influence 
change in consequence."'^ 

In considering the characteristics of trees above men- 
tioned, we should always bear in mind that every pro- 
duction of nature is an end to itself, and that every part 
of it is at once end and mean. Of trees in open expo- 
sures, we find that their peculiar properties contribute, in 



Note VII. 



70 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



a remarkable raaniier, to their health and prosperity. In 
the first place, their shortness and greater girth of stem, 
in contradistinction to others in the interior of woods, 
are obviously intended to give to the former greater 
strength to resist the winds, and a shorter lever to act 
upon the roots. Secondly, their larger heads, with 
spreading branches, in consequence of the free access of 
light, are plainly formed for the nourishment, as well 
as the balancing of so large a trunk, and also for furnish- 
ing a cover to shield it from the elements. Thirdly, 
their superior thickness and induration of bark is, in like 
manner, bestowed for the protection of the sap-vessels 
that lie immediately under it, and which, without such 
defence from cold, could not perform their functions. 
Fourthly, their greater number and variety of roots are 
for the double purpose of nourishment and strength ; 
nourishment to support a mass of such magnitude, and 
strength to contend with the fury of the blast. Such are 
the obvious purposes for which these unvarying charac- 
teristics of trees, in open exposures, are conferred upon 
them. Nor are they conferred equally and indiscrimi- 
nately on all trees so situated. They seem, by the 
economy of nature, to be peculiar adaptations to the 
circumstances and wants of each individual, uniformly 
bestowed in the ratio of exposure — greater where that is 
more conspicuous, and uniformly decreasing as it becomes 
less. 

On the other hand, in the interior of woods a universal 
tendency, for the reasons already stated, is observable in 
trees to rise to the light, to attain greater altitude, to 
form far smaller heads, and taller, slenderer, and more 
elegant stems. Here is found a milder and more genial 
climate, in which, by means of the calm generated by 
shelter, vegetation is not checked by cold, and at the same 



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71 



time is undisturbed by the external impediment of ^Ymd, 
Here nature has no need, as in the case of exposures, to 
generate provisions necessary to mitigate the effect of 
evaporation, as has been above observed, or to endue 
each individual tree with distinct and appropriate means 
of defence against the elements. In this situation the 
branches, and in like manner the roots, are much less 
extensive and numerous than in the former instance, and 
the bark of a thinner and finer quality — all plainly indi- 
cating, that the trees so situated do not require the same 
external protection. It is like the genial warmth of the 
seed-bed or the nursery, but where there is freedom for 
the roots to expand without interruption, and for the 
leaves to prepare the sap without being vexed by the 
winds. In fact, so extraordinary is the difference between 
trees of the same species, placed in the one situation and 
in the other, that there is no visible point of resemblance 
between them, excepting the leaves. We may, however, 
perceive that, as soon as the tops gain the summit of the 
wood, their branches are shortened towards that quarter, 
and both branches and spray are more thickly, though 
less vigorously, thrown out, in order to supply a defence 
against the storm. Further, we find that the outside 
rows, partaking in some measm^e of the situation of trees 
in exposures, obtain, in a proportional degree, the pro- 
visions adapted to such a situation, and by consequence, 
a corresponding confirmation and external character. 

It is a very curious fact, which has been verified by 
experiment, and is worthy the attention of the scientific 
planter, that these several properties or provisions, though 
once determinately acquired, are not fixed or permanent 
in trees. The vigilance of nature, if I may so speak, in 
adapting them to every vicissitude of external circum- 
stances, is so conspicuous as to dispose them gradually to 



72 



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divest themselves of tlie properties adapted to one situa- 
tion, wlien thej happen to be transferred to another to 
which the opposite properties are more congenial. For 
this reason, if a tree of some size, which in consequence 
of exposure has acquired all the properties already 
noticed as adapted to that situation, be transferred to 
the interior of the wood, it will in a few years lay aside 
those properties, and assume all the others which have 
been described, as pecuharly adapted to its new circum- 
stances.'"* Thus the law of nature seems to be, that 
shelter and exposure — that is, heat and cold — have the 
power alike of diminishing or increasing, and of even 
alternately bestowing and taking away, what may be 
called the Peotecting Propeeties. 

It has been noticed above, that all trees in open situa- 
tions uniformly attain the highest states of natural per- 
fection of which they are susceptible — consequently it 
is by such trees that the best, the toughest, and the most 
durable timber is produced. Yet it is interesting to 
observe the beneficence of Providence, in providing for the 
accommodation of man. Were it not for the way in which 
the external condition of trees, in woods and close situa- 
tions, is modified, from whence could we procure the 
long and powerful beam, the straight, clean, and length- 
ened deal, and nearly all the wood that is employed, 
whether in civil or naval architecture '? 

On considering these difibrent phenomena, and com- 
paring them with other facts respecting the growth of 
wood, which daily present themselves to our observation, 
the following conclusions, as adapted to practice, seem 
irresistible, and are agreeable to the law of nature on this 
subject. 

First, That in a general view it seems evident, respect- 

* Note VIII. 



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73 



ing the two descriptions of trees above mentioned, that 
each is furnished with a certain form, and certain pro- 
visions or properties, which are best adapted to the 
exigencies of its situation. That for this purpose the 
sheltered trees are always more straight, more delicate, 
and more lofty — the exposed more stout, more hardy, 
and more spreading ; better nourished by roots, and pro- 
tected and balanced by numerous spray, and wide extend- 
ing branches. 

Secondly, That as the four protecting properties already 
dehneated, as belonging to trees in open situations, are 
essential and necessary to the vigorous development of 
their existence, so they may be set down as indispensable 
pre-requisites for those intended for transplantation, which 
generally implies increased exposure ; and that, soil and 
climate being equal, such subjects will succeed the best 
as are endued in the greatest degree with these pre- 
requisites or properties. 

Thirdly, We must infer that the four opposite, or non- 
protecting properties, described as belonging to sheltered 
trees, which are not developed in their natural and per- 
fect proportions, however fitted such properties may be 
for them, are unsuitable to removal, and are on that 
account not less studiously to be avoided by the planter 
in the selection of his subjects. Indeed, in reflecting on 
the most striking instances of failure, it is observable that 
such are always associated with these unfavourable pro- 
perties. 

Fourthly, It is plain, if we mean to succeed in trans- 
ferring trees of any magnitude in our lawns or parks, 
that we must endeavour to follow the example of nature 
in ordering such subjects. The practical course, then, to 
be pursued is, to adopt the subjects possessing the pro- 
tecting provisions or properties, wherever they can be 



74 



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found, and to communicate them to others in which they 
are wanting, by the easiest methods Another rule seems 
to be, that, in following nature, we may accommodate or 
adapt the principle to the particular circumstances and 
situation in which we chance to operate : that, although 
we must rigidly adhere to it, as nature does, in severe 
exposures, we may yet proportionally relax it, as warmth 
or shelter is more or less afforded to our subjects : or, as 
has been expressed with greater precision above, we must 
prospectively maintain the same harmony between the 
existing provisions of the tree, and the exigencies of its 
new situation, as had previously subsisted between its 
relative properties and the circumstances of its former 
site. 

Fifthly, If we adopt this principle, and follow it up 
with a judicious mode of execution, it seems evident that 
the necessity of defacing or mutilating the fine tops of 
trees will be entirely superseded. We shall obtain at 
once what the art, as hitherto practised, has not been 
able to obtain for us — the immediate and full effect of 
wood ; that is, trees complete and perfect in all their parts, 
without the loss of the time required to replace the parts, 
when so defaced and mutilated. In this way, likewise, a 
certain and successful practice will be established, instead 
of one that is fortuitous. To which it is pleasing to add, 
that the same system that gives picturesque effect con- 
joins utility with ornament ; for, by following it out, we 
shall ensure to our trees uniform health and progressive 
vigour, and, by consequence, sound and valuable wood. 

Such is the general theory which I venture to suggest 
for the improvement of the art and the guidance of the 
planter. The proposition, as I conceive, has been enunci- 
ated, and examined in its several bearings, with sufficient 
accuracy in the foregoing part of this chapter. The more 



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75 



brief and popular modification now given of protecting 
and non-protecting properties, is not perhaps strictly 
philosophical ; but it is adopted merely on account of its 
simplicity, and for the purpose of accommodating the 
theory to practice. These properties, I am aware, are 
acquired by trees solely in consequence of differences in 
their situation ; and for that reason it might have been 
better, if terms could have been found having a reference 
to what the tree is, or to the conditions that have made it 
so, rather than to any future uses which the character 
thus acquired is considered to serve. But they may be 
defended precisely on the same grounds as the terms 
" conducting" and " non-conducting,'' as applied to certain 
substances capable of receiving and transmitting the 
electric fluid, which were first invented by DisagTiliers, 
and have been since admitted into the philosophical 
nomenclature. 

The above practical view, however, with the illustrations 
already ofibred, cannot well mislead us, as they are founded 
on admitted doctrines of phytology and the laws of nature. 
If such a mode of execution be superinduced upon it as 
shall furnish to the tree a competent supply of sap at the 
critical period of removal, the art may be said to be 
established on fixed principles ; and thus the results may 
be rendered as certain and successful as the severity of 
the operation will admit. Of the general correctness of 
the theory there seems little doabt ; but, like every other 
drawn from nature, it will be still further developed and 
improved by observation and experience. I may, how- 
ever, say, after considerable experience, that, in park- 
practice at least, it admits of few modifications and no 
exceptions. 

It is both interesting and important to observe, that 
the principles on which this theory is founded are the 



76 



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true principles of general planting, and must equally 
govern every attempt at successful arboriculture ; I mean 
the anatomy of plants, and the modifying of heat and 
cold to their various conditions and circumstances. It is 
a radical error to suppose, as is too often done by planters 
and gardeners, that heat is not as necessary to the infancy 
of a tender plant as to a newborn and helpless animal ; 
and that the former is not as ill adapted to resist cold, 
and an early and undue exposure to the elements, as the 
latter. The tree, as well as the animal, is an organised 
being endued with life, although its conditions of exis- 
tence, internal and external, are differently modified : but 
the striking analogy subsisting between them should be 
the guide of the planter's practice, and should never be 
absent from his mind. It is owing to this utter unacquaint- 
ance with vegetable physiology which prevails among 
landowners, that the ill success of too many British 
plantations is to be attributed, and that wood so seldom 
thrives or repays the planter. 

Were arboriculture, like husbandry, properly under- 
stood, and were the important sciences of physiology and 
chemistry applied, in the former art, to the study of facts, 
a very different return for the vast sums laid out in plant- 
ing might certainly be expected. In this case, I do not 
say that soils and climates could by any means be equal- 
ised, but their return in wood, like that in crops, would 
become uniformly productive : trees would be judiciously 
adapted to their appropriate soils, and, what is little less 
important, to their appropriate climates. The efforts of 
nature would every where be seconded, instead of being 
repressed or counteracted. An ef&cient management 
would supersede a fortuitous practice ; and, in a word, 
science would be able to anticipate the result, which 
industry, without her assistance, could never bring about. 



SECTION IV. 



DEVELOPMENT AND ILLUSTKATION OF THE NEW 
THEOEY OK PEINCIPLE. 

In the foregoing section, the principle or theory sug- 
gested for an improyed practice in transplanting has been 
considered as a new principle. But it does not foUow 
from thence, that I either belieye, or would persuade 
others, that I have made many new discoveries in phjto- 
logical science. I have on this occasion merely deduced 
practice from speculation, and conclusions that are pro- 
bably new, from facts which others as well as myself 
must have long since observed. 

Simple and obvious as the principle seems to be, if it 
have ever occurred to, or been acted on by others, the 
fact has not come to my knowledge. Of the general 
practice of this country I may speak with some certainty. 
I have both seen and heard a good deal of that of our 
English neighbours. I have made considerable inqimies 
respecting the practice of France, Germany, and the north 
of Europe ; from all which it appears, that planters have 
not sufficiently attended to vegetable physiology, or to 
what the law of nature is in respect to the effects of 
shelter and exposure on the growth of wood. In one 
and all of these countries, trees are at once transferred 
from close woods or plantations to the open field, and 
full-grown or large subjects are, like young plants, more 



78 



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or less lopped and defaced, under the name of lightening 
the tops, at the time of removal. These things, together 
with the ill success almost always attendant on the com- 
mon method, clearly point out that the principle in ques- 
tion may be said to be altogether new to the public. 

From the facts above stated it is apparent that there 
are certain distinct external provisions or properties in 
trees, called the protecting properties, which are conferred 
on them by nature, and which render them fit for resisting 
the influence of the elements in exposed situations ; and 
that there are certain other properties, termed the non- 
protecting, which render them unfit. Hence it follows, 
as already observed, that if, taking nature for our guide, 
we adopt such trees only as are endued with the former 
properties, as subjects for removal, we shall have the best 
chance of succeeding in that hazardous task. In order to 
show in the most intelligible manner how this has been 
accomplished, perhaps the simplest course will be to 
endeavour to detail the progress of my own attempts at 
the object ; earnestly requesting of the reader to forgive 
the appearance of egotism, with which such a detail must 
necessarily be accompanied. It is only from our own 
errors, or those of others, that we can hope to derive 
useful lessons in a process of which the success is so much 
dependent on judgment and accuracy. 

My first experiments, many years since, were made on 
subjects taken from plantations in which the trees stood 
too close to one another. The plants, as might be ex- 
pected, were straight and beautiful, although greatly 
drawn up by shelter towards the hght, and deficient in 
lateral branches. But I expected, by removing a number 
of them, to attain the double object of thinning the plan- 
tations and wooding the open field. During the first 



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79 



season, a few of the best-rooted survived the operation, 
and carried leaf well. Their tops were pretty severely 
lopped, or lightened with the axe, in the ordinary manner ; 
and I was flattered with some prospect that they would 
ere long shoot forth with vigour. In a year or two they 
became stunted and unhealthy, from causes now obvious, 
but which were unknown to me at the time. The re- 
maining branches gradually dropped ofi*. They were 
unable, even with the help of props, to resist the winds, 
and were in the end rooted out as altogether irrecover- 
able. 

Having discovered that subjects of quite a different 
sort must be resorted to, my next trials were made on 
trees standing in open glades, in grove-wood which had 
been thinned out to wider distances, in hedgerows and 
the like, where the sun and air had freer admission. The 
trees, in general, here exceeded twenty feet in height, 
their stems were stouter than those used in my first 
experiments. Their bark had none of the fine and glossy 
surface belonging to that of the others. Their heads 
were beginning to assume a more spreading form, and 
were tolerably well balanced. The roots in some were 
numerous, but in others scraggy and straggling, according 
to the nature of their previous rooting-ground, and the 
degree of exposure in which they had stood. 

The plants from the hedgerows, of course, exceeded all 
the others in the possession of those properties which I 
began to suspect were most essential ; and they would 
have been the best subjects of any, had not their roots 
grown in a perpendicular direction, in consequence of the 
high mound of earth on which the hedge was planted. 
But the tops of the whole I now resolved to leave entire 
and untouched, notwithstanding the universality of the 



80 



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lopping practice, and the confident opinion entertained 
that it was indispensable to success. 

At this early period I possessed little skill in the 
business of preparing or taking up the trees. I had no 
implements beyond common spades and shovels for the 
latter purpose : neither had I any proper machinery for 
safe and speedy transportation. A number of men, how- 
ever, being set to work, sledges, trundles, carts, and even 
wheelbarrows were pressed into the service ; by which 
methods a few were removed with difficulty, and at a con- 
siderable expense. 

Some years after this, I tried other subjects from forest 
glades, or open spaces in the interior of woods, where the 
trees were much taller and handsomer. Their disposition 
having been pretty open, and the lightness of the soil 
affording good rooting-ground, their roots and fibres had 
struck more abundantly than in the other subjects just 
now mentioned. Their bark, likewise, appeared more 
sound and healthy, and free from the coarse and rugged 
surface which was remarkable in the hedgerow plants. 
For these reasons they were the subjects from which I 
anticipated the most certain success. This took place 
more than thirty years ago. 

It may easily be imagined that, in these rude attempts, 
many deaths occurred, and that a small number only 
outlived the operation ; but the lessons which were 
derived from them, after standing on the open ground for 
four or five years, were very instructive. I shall most 
probably surprise the young planter (as, indeed, I was 
surprised myself) by stating, that those which I then 
found to succeed the best were not what had shown the 
most numerous roots, as was conjectured, but what had 
acquired the thickest and coarsest coat of bark, and 



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81 



possessed the stoutest stems, if accompanied with branches 
and spray pretty thickly set. In the second rank only 
came the plants from woody glades, of which the roots 
were so promising, and seemed to confer on them so great 
a superiority. In other words, it appeared to me that 
the success of the trees, their new situation and soil being 
equal, was in the ratio of tlieii^ previous exposure, and 
their consequent power of protecting the sap-vessels, which 
power seemed always commensurate to exposure. 

Subsequently various other experiments on a small 
scale were instituted, with such subjects as could be pro- 
cured. But in searching for these I was necessarily 
confined to old and established plantations, which, 
although of some extent, and containing some variety of 
soil and climate, were yet imperfectly suited to the 
purpose. The important transplanting nurseries which I 
afterwards formed, and which shall be treated of in the 
sequel, had at this period no existence, and the manifold 
advantages since derived from them were not then con- 
templated. Still, a sufficient variety of plants, both in 
form and species, was obtained, so as to enlarge expe- 
rience, and render the steps of its progress more interest- 
ing, and its results more satisfactory. 

In tnese circumstances I was naturally incited to 
inquire into the causes of such unexpected phenomena, to 
engage in the study of the anatomy of trees, and of 
vegetable physiology, or the doctrine of the constitution 
and properties of plants. And in respect to trees, it is 
remarkable that little or nothing was known of this 
science in Europe until the close of the seventeenth 
century, when the first probable theory of the circulation 
of the sap was discovered. Indeed, it is only within the 
last forty or fifty years that the science has been greatly 
cultivated in Britain ; a,nd it will be admitted as a 

r 



82 



THE planter's guide. 



striking proof of the fact, that, at this moment, few 
persons comparatively — and, what is still more surprising, 
few planters, are aware of the twofold course of the sap 
in trees, or of the method in which their juices are either 
elaborated or circulated. These studies, I found, threw 
great light upon the subject. Appearances for which I 
had not been able previously to account were now 
satisfactorily explained ; and means were suggested for 
obviating difficulties that otherwise seemed insurmount- 
able. 

It has been already stated that there are four distinct 
external provisions, termed the protecting properties, 
which nature gives to trees in open exposures, and which 
distinguish them from others standing in the interior of 
woods. The use of these properties is to enable trees to 
develop their existence vigorously, in spite of the 
external conditions which are unfavourable to such 
development. Which of the four properties is really 
the most important for that purpose it was not easy to 
determine, as they are all relative and correlative. They 
act and react in the most curious manner upon one 
another, each modifying and determining, as has been 
seen, the existence of all the others. To predicate, then, 
or affirm certainly, as to their respective usefulness in the 
art of transplanting, is, properly speaking, more fanciful 
than real. But, from my own practice, I was disposed to 
rank them in the following order of pre-eminence : first, 
thickness and induration of bark ; secondly, stoutness and 
girth of stem ; thirdly, numerousness of roots and fibres ; 
and fourthly, extent, balance, and closeness of branches. 
I found, however, that it might safely be assumed as a 
rule, that the success of the planter in this art would be 
in the actual proportion in which his subjects possessed 
these properties ; and vice versd, that his failure would 



THE PLANTER S GUIDE. 



83 



be in the proportion of their deficiency. It is manifest, 
on any other supposition, that we must believe Nature to 
act here in contradiction to herself, which is impossible ; 
although her most obvious processes are many times 
misunderstood by the blindness of man. 

Such is the short history of my own progress, and of 
that plain and practical system on which I have con- 
sequently acted. It is unencumbered with complex 
notions or technical details. Its soundness has been 
proved by the experience of many years. The principle 
has been occasionally relaxed, or stretched to the utmost, 
as circumstances of comparative shelter or exposure 
required ; and the uniform success attending the pra.ctice 
leaves no room to doubt that a similar system, if adopted 
by others, will secure similar results. 

As it is of the utmost importance to the young planter 
toapprehend as much of vegetable physiology as imme- 
diately relates to this subject, so that he may be enabled 
to appreciate the above properties or prerequisites, I beg 
leave to call his attention to a few observations which I 
shall make upon each of them. For this purpose let us 
consider the relative nature and importance of these 
prerequisites, in reference to the art and to one another, 
and draw such conclusions as may be useful in throwing 
light upon the principle just now laid down. 

First. — As to superior thickness and induration of 
bark. The bark of trees is accounted by phytologists as 
among the composite organs. It consists, first, of the 
epidermis, or external cuticle or integument of the plant ; 
secondly, of the cellular tissue or parenchyma — ^that is, the 
soft pulpy substance, situated immediately undei* the 
epidermis, and constituting a sort of secondary integu- 
ment ; and thirdly, of a number of thin cortical and con- 
centric layers, composing the mass of the bark ; of which 



84 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



parts the innermost is denominated tlie liher, from its 
having been anciently used to write upon before the 
invention of paper/" If the cortical layers be injured or 
destroyed by accident, the part is again regenerated, and 
the wound healed up without a scar. If the wound have 
penetrated beyond the liber, the part is incapable of being 
regenerated ; because, when the surface of the alburnum 
is exposed to the air for any length of time, there will be 
no further vegetation in that part. But if the wound be 
not very large, it will close up, first by the production of 
new bark issuing from the edges, and gradually narrowing 
the wound, and then by the production of new layers of 
wood formed under the bark as before. If a portion of 
the stem only be decorticated, and covered with a piece 
of bark from another tree, the two different barks will 
readily unite. Hence we are enabled to ascertain how 
far the liber extends ; and hence also the origin of graft- 
ing, which is always effected by a union of the liber of 
the graft with the stock.f 

"There is no fixed or definite period/' as Keith 
observes, " that can positively be assigned as necessary to 
the complete induration of the wood or bark, although it 
seems to require a good many years before any particular 
layer is converted from the state of alburnum to that of 
perfect wood.^J In respect to bark, there is not any 
circumstance which hastens this period so much as the 
exposure of trees to the elements, even at an early period 
of their age. In the same way as the action of the air 

* Keith's Physiological Botany, vol. i. p. 295. Du Hamel, Phys. des Arbres, 
lib. i. pp. 3, 5. DeSaussure, Encyclop. Method, torn. i. p. 67. Also, Observations 
sur I'Ecorce, &e. 

+ Senebier, Phys. Veget. torn. i. pp. 177, 178. Keith, vol. ii. p. 229. Knight, 
Philosoph. Trans. 1803. Ellis, Anat. Veget. in Suppl. Encyclop. Britan. 

t Physiolog. Bot. vol. ii. p. 231. See also Kieser, Organ, des Plantes, chap, 
ii. pp. 95, 96, et seq; also p. 153, &c. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



85 



multiplies or thickens the brandies and spraj, the cellular 
tissue and cortical layers are thickened for the protection 
of the proper vessels. The inner layers being always the 
softest, the outer by this means gradually increase in 
solidity and thickness, and become visibly indurated ; so 
that with some trees it even sloughs, and splits into 
chinks and fissures, as in the case of the Sycamore, the 
Elm, and the Fir. In this condition, we may conceive how 
well adapted such a mass of non-conducting matter is to 
protect from cold the ascending, and still more the 
descending or proper vessels, as already mentioned. 

In order to assist the reader in forming a clear concep- 
tion of the great value of a proper thickness of bark to 
trees intended for removal, it will be necessary to inquire 
a little into the means by which the sap-vessels minister 
to the sustenance of plants. In the warmer latitudes the 
sap flows in certain plants during the whole year ; but in 
those that are more temperate, the functions of vegetables 
are suspended, or nearly so, during the winter season. 
Early in the spring, however, it begins to rise in woody 
plants, and continues to ascend till it reaches the extremi- 
ties of the branches. This sap is absorbed from the soil 
by the extremities of the capillary rootlets, and conveyed 
upwards, through the vessels of the root, to the trunk. 
In its ascent it rises only through the wood and the 
alburnum, in tubes of various sizes, and is prepared or 
elaborated by the leaves. That process, according to 
some, is effected by means of an alternate contraction and 
dilatation of the sap-vessels, and still more by a respira- 
tion, perceptible and imperceptible, in the leaves, which is 
peculiar to plants, whether woody or herbaceous, and by 
the action of the atmosphere : but according to others it 
is rather the exhalation from the leaves, than what is 
properly their respiratory functions, that effects the 



86 



THE PLANTEE's GUIDE. 



ascent of the sap. When this has taken place, the sap 
is convert ed into the proper juice, or what has been by 
some called cambium — that is, juice fitted for nutrition; 
and it descends bj the returning vessels of the leaf-stalk, 
and the longitudinal vessels of the rind, or inner bark. 
Thus the circulation is carried on by a double process, 
the ascending and the descending ; whereby the vessels 
terminate downwards in absorbents, by which the fluids 
are received, and they terminate upwards in exhalents, 
by which those fluids are discharged. This doctrine of 
the two ciuTents of sap was originally struck out by 
Malpighi and Grew ; but the first who showed the organs 
of communication between the two currents to be the 
leaves was unquestionably Darwin — a discovery which 
the ingenuity of Knight subsequently extended and con- 
fii'med, and traced the existence of the circulation of the 
sap. 

During the descent of the proper juice, it further 
appears that each branch is nourished by the juice pre- 
pared by itself, and that the surplus beyond what is 
required for that pm^pose descends from the junction of 
the branch with the stem, and contributes to the increase 
of tlie stem, and at last of the roots which originally 
supplied it. The descending juice is the efiicient and 
proximate means employed by nature for the support and 
nourishment of every part ; therefore, to say that a tree 
is vigorous and healthy, is to say, in effect, that it has an 
abundant supply of sap."' 

The true constitution and anatomy of plants was first 
systematically brought forward, on the Continent, by 

* See Grew and Malpighi, Anat. Plant, passim. Darwin's Phytologia. De 
Saussure, Encyclop. Method. — Wildenow, Prin. of Bot. p. 85. Knight, Philo- 
Boph. Trans. 1803, 1806. Ellis, in art. Veget. Physiol, in Sup. to the 
Encyclop. Britan. 



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87 



Malpiglii. Grew, as it . is on all hands admitted, made 
his phjtological discoveries about the same time, without 
an J communication with the Italian physician ; and 
both, without doubt, felt the impulse which had been 
given to the spirit of philosophical inquiry by the genius 
of Bacon, who showed how analytical and inductive 
investigation might be applied in order to explain the 
phenomena of vegetable life. In the end of the seven- 
teenth century, while these two eminent men flourished, 
vegetable physiology was still in its infancy in Europe ; 
but in process of time, as that interesting science attracted 
the notice of the learned, their theory was confirmed by 
new facts and more extended microscopical observation. 
To Grew and Malpighi succeeded various writers of 
difi'erent nations in the same track — De la Baisse, Hales, 
Bonnet, Du Hamel, Senebier, and others ; until Hedwig, 
Wildenow, and especially Dr Kieser of Jena, and Messrs 
Knight, Ellis, and Keith, in our own times, have by 
their ingenious labours thrown the fullest light upon the 
subject. 

But the circulation of the sap is not a doctrine that has 
been universally adopted by phytologists, however reason- 
able it may seem from the analogy which we see, in other 
instances, to subsist between the animal and vegetable 
kingdoms. About the middle of the last century it ap- 
pears to have fallen into disrepute. Du Hamel refuted 
it with considerable ingenuity ;f and both Du Hamel 
and Hales, while they generally admitted that the sap 
both ascends and descends, denied the existence of a cir- 
culation. Within the last five-and-twenty years, how- 
ever, the theory has been revived with great lustre, and 
seems now to be the popular one of the day. In fact, 



* Note I. 



f Phys. des Arbres, lib. v. ch. 2. 



88 



THE planter's guide. 



from the arguments, as well as names, by which it has 
been supported, it bids fair to stand its ground in future. 
Mr Keith, one of the clearest and best phjtological writers 
we now have, is no ready granter of propositions ; yet 
in his late work, while he holds the balance of decision 
with an able and even hand between the conflicting theo- 
ries, he very nearly admits the existence of the doctrine.''' 
From this cursory account it is apparent of what vast 
importance it is to the planter to maintain the sap, and 
still more the proper vessels, in the due exercise of their 
functions, and to protect them from external injury, of 
which cold may be considered as the greatest. For this pur- 
pose nature has wisely provided such trees as are in open 
exposures with a thick and coarse covering of outer bark, 
which forms a defence from the elements to the inner 
bark, in which the descending or proper vessels are 
situated. 

Further, we know that heat is necessary to cause 
vegetation, as well as to continue it. Hence the wonderful 
effects of shelter in close woods and plantations in encour- 
aging growth. All' trees, during infancy, require a con- 
siderable proportion of warmth to make them shoot freely, 
as is proved by comparing the striking difference in their 
progress at different degrees of elevation or exposure. 
What is most remarkable in sheltered trees is, that several 
of the kinds, most delicate and tender while young — for 
example the Oak — are found, when matured in a kindly 
temperature, to be the best adapted to resist the elements, 
and set their greatest fury at defiance. 

In adverting to heat as essential to vegetation, it is 
particularly worthy of notice, as already observed, that 
the epidermis and bark of trees drawn up by shelter are 



* Note II. 



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89 



usually tliiu, the former often smooth and glossy. The 
descending vessels, by consequence, as they lie under it, 
never fail to suffer severely on being exposed to a cold 
atmosphere. It is greatly on this account, as well as from 
scantiness of roots and lateral boughs, that plantations 
sustain such extensive injury on being suddenly thinned. 
AVhere that operation is performed in a gradual manner, 
it gives time for nature to prepare the trees for the 
change by strengthening the coat of bark, and like- 
wise by multiplying the roots and thickening the spray 
and branches ; and thus the proper vessels are prevented 
from being chilled by untimely exposure. The fact, though 
universally known, is never referred to the true cause by 
common observers. 

These considerations furnish ample ground to admire 
the wise provision of nature in bestowing a much thicker, 
coarser, and more indurated covering of bark upon all 
trees in open exposures ; for in vain might they possess 
every other property, if the sap-vessels were not suffici- 
ently protected and enabled to do their ofl&ce. Were that 
to happen through the tliinness of the bark, there cannot 
be a doubt but that the plants would become stunted and 
si('kly, and both branches and spray would suffer injury 
in consequence, as we see happen to the generality of 
transplanted trees which do not possess this protecting 
property. From all which it appears, that the health 
and protection of the proper vessels, by means of a due 
thickness and indm^ation of bark, is an indispensable pre- 
requisite in all subjects meant for removal, and that it is 
deserving of the rank here assigned to it. 

Secon^dly. — Girth and stoutness of stem. Next to 
thickness of bark, the fitness of the tree for removal greatly 
depends on this property. The stem or trunk of woody 
plants is classed by phytologists among the conservative 



90 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



organs. It is the part of the tree in which its bulk and 
strength principally reside, and has been represented bj 
Linnseus as the caudex ascendens, or root above ground — 
an illustration, as Keith truly observes, more fanciful than 
philosophical.'" 

The stems of trees are augmented in width by an annual 
layer, and in length by an annual shoot springing from 
the terminating bud. The development of the shoot 
from the stem is not effected in the same manner as that 
of the root, by additions to the extremity only, but by 
the introsusception of additional particles throughout its 
whole extent, at least in its soft and succulent state. 
The extension of the shoot, as Du Hamel justly remarks, 
is inversely as its induration — rapid while it remains her- 
baceous, but slow as it is converted into wood. Hence 
moisture and shade are the circumstances of all others 
the most favourable to elongation, because they prevent 
induration, or retard it. f In close and confined planta- 
tions, therefore, where the external conditions of air and 
light are imperfectly supplied, the roots are correlatively 
proportional to the system of ramification. Trees so cir- 
cumstanced push upwards to the light ; and from the 
warmth which their situation affords, their stems being 
thin and slender in proportion to their height, they are 
destitute of strength to resist the winds. The natural 
consequence is, that their roots are extremely apt to be 
shaken and displaced in the ground, and prevented from 
seeking proper food for the branches and other parts of 
the tree. 

Now it is obvious that it is these very properties which 
are the least adapted to removal. Nothing but a stem 

* Physiolog. Bot. vol. i. p. 43. 

t Ibid. vol. ii. pp. 251, 252. Kieser, Organ, des Plantes, p. 164; also pp. 166-168. 



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9L 



stout and vigorous, and nourished by adequate side- 
branches, can obyiate the evils above delineated. Sup- 
ports or props, whether composed of wood, cordage, or 
any other material, are of little avail in giving stability. 
To a body rather deficient in proper strength, a rich and 
favourable soil may, after some years, give an augmentation 
of roots and lateral branches, and in the end a certain 
accession of strength to the body itself. But he who 
would transplant with judgment should consider a vigor- 
ous stem as a sine qud non in the beginning ; as success 
otherwise must depend on accidents which he cannot con- 
trol, and on advantages which he may not procure at an 
after period. 

Thiedly. — x^umerousness of roots and fibres. Roots are 
also accounted among the conservative organs. The body 
of the roots of trees, says Malpighi, may be regarded as 
a production and elongation of the trunk beneath the soil, 
and is constructed of the same textures disposed in the 
same manner.'" Roots, hke the stem, are augmented in 
their width by the addition of an annual layer, and in their 
length by the addition of an annual shoot, bursting from the 
terminating fibre ; but they are elongated merely by the ex- 
tremity. This is the general opinion of phytologists. 
It has, however, of late been called in question, and great 
ability has been displayed in making it appear that the 
root is not elongated by the extremity, any more than the 
stem ; or, if it be so, that the rule has numerous exceptions.f 

As trees have no organs analogous to the mouths of 
animals, they are enabled to take up the nourishment 
which is necessary for their support only by absorption 
and inhalation, as the chyle is taken into the animal 
lacteals, or air into the lungs. This, in the language of 

* Anat. Plantar, p. 145. 

t See Thomson's Annals of Philos. No. LXXVI. p. 229. 



92 



THE PLAOTER's guide. 



plijtologists, is termed introsiisception ; and the former 
mode, of com^se, applies to the iutrosusception of non- 
elastic fluids, and the latter to that of gaseous fluids.'" 
The fact is, that the roots are much rather to be regarded 
as the mouths of plants, selecting what is useful to nour- 
ishment, and rejecting what is jet in a crude and indiges- 
tible state ; the larger portion of it also serving to fix the 
plant in the soil, and to convey to the trunk the nomish- 
ment absorbed by the smaller fibres, which, ascending by 
the tubes of the alburnum, is thus conveyed to the leaves.f 
Roots, moreover, by their vigour and numbers, must pre- 
viously stretch out under ground before the branches can 
extend themselves in the air; and the progress of the 
latter development will, of com'se, be in proportion to that 
of the former. By the cmious and beautiful way in which 
almost every part of a tree modifies and determines the 
existence of every other part, as above noticed, the roots 
in their turn receive vigour and extension from the ad- 
vancement of the branches. 

It appears that roots and fibres are found more or less 
extensive in the ratio of the exposure or shelter in which 
a tree is placed. In open situations they are always 
strong and numerous, and they extend to a wide distance 
from the plant. This is indispensably necessary, not- 
Avithstanding the short and powerful stem which a tree so 
situated usually displays, in order to enable it to resist 
the elements, and to provide sustenance for the great 
expansion of top with which such a tree is sure to be fur- 
nished. Hence may be seen the great importance of 
numerous roots and fibres in removing trees of any mag- 
nitude. It is supposed by some that the roots of trees so 
placed, if of considerable age, after having exhausted 



* Note III. f Keith, vol. ii. p. 246 ; also pp. 90, 250. 



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93 



before tlieir maturity all the pabulum in their immediate 
neighbom-hood, will at length be fomid searching for food at 
a distance from the trunk equal to the height of the trees 
themselves. At all events we are aware that, even with 
trees of a youthful age, the roots and branches are co-ex- 
tensive with each other ; or rather, that superior extent 
is generally found on the side of the roots. 

In the more confined parts of the forest the reverse of 
this usually takes place, from the warmth generated by 
shelter, and from the injurious effects of evaporation being 
obviated. Here roots, and especially fibres, are of far 
less extent and strength, and also fewer in number, than 
in open positions ; and hence the risk arising from thick- 
ets or close plantations being too suddenly laid open, as 
above mentioned. The want of a stronger system of root, 
in such cases, is sufficiently accounted for by the reason- 
ings already given, and by a sufficient supply of the 
descending sap. 

In order to enable trees to withstand the wind, there 
is nothing more important than the tap-root, or root that 
has its determination directly downwards. Roots and 
branches, as has been already observed, are relative and 
correlative; and I am inclined to think that a striking 
resemblance of character exists between the leading shoots 
and the tap-roots, insomuch that they will be found not 
only analogous to, but also co-existent with each other. 
While the tree continues in full vigour, and has not as yet 
attained its ultimate height or size, it has a leading slioot 
or shoots at top ; and at that period we find' that there 
is, in like manner, underground, a leading tap-root of cor- 
responding vigour. When the leading shoots of the stem 
begin to lose their pre-eminence, and gradually disappear 
among the other branches, the top of the tree assumes a 
rounded form, and becomes what is called clump-headed. 



94 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



At this period also the tap-root, in the same way, loses 
its pre-eminence, and begins to disappear among the 
other roots. It loses likewise its power of going down- 
wards, and is no longer distinguished among the latter. 
Thus we may perceive how remarkable a resemblance 
the roots and branches of trees bear to each other, not 
only in respect io form, but also in respect to the period 
of their duration — a fact which has not hitherto been 
observed by phytologists. 

As to the tap-root, it appears that a good deal of ex- 
aggeration has prevailed among late writers respecting 
its importance to trees, which has been affirmed to be 
quite paramount. Hence the doctrine that, if it be cut 
off by transplantation, or other means, the tree has no 
longer the power either of renewing or reproducing it, or 
even of growing to timber of any magnitude. This 
opinion, however, is founded in error, and cannot be sup- 
ported by experience. From the development of woody 
plants, we are warranted in believing that, in infancy, 
the tap-root is indispensable to their vigorous growth. 
But the fact that, in trees of mature age, when cut down, 
the tap-root is no longer distinguishable from the other 
roots, sufficiently shows that the importance which it 
once possessed does not continue to a late period of their 
age. 

From my own experience I am enabled to adduce a 
direct confirmation of the analogy above mentioned. In 
sundry instances, when I have had occasion for the second 
time to remove a tree, the power of renovation appeared 
conspicuous in the fresh set of tap-roots that was generated. 
In the same way, respecting the top, on heading down a 
spiral tree, in order to communicate to it the spreading 
character, it was found that numerous growths were sent 
out instead of the leading shoot, which had been dis- 



THE PLANTEK's GUIDE. 



95 



placed by the pnming-knife ; and when it came to be 
shortened a second time, there appeared, of course, a still 
greater multiplicity. The truth seems to be, that no phy- 
siological obseryations as yet made are inconsistent with 
this doctrine. Art or accident may cut off or shorten 
either the tap-root or the pre-eminent shoots of the top, 
but the plastic po\Yers of most trees will soon renew 
them ; not indeed with the same degree of strength 
individually in either, but in greater numbers, aggregately 
qualified to perform the same functions in nourishing the 
plant.''" 

Further, roots are materially determined in their 
form, by the nature of the soil in which they grow ; in- 
somuch that, in many instances, before we can pronounce 
on their true form, we must be aware of the condition and 
texture of the soil that is most natural to them. Their 
deyelopment is most luxuriant in ground that is neither 
too loose nor too dense. In stiff and poor soils they are 
spare and scraggy, whereas in such as are at once deep 
and loose, the minutest fibres both expand, and elongate 
with facility, and render the mouths that search for food 
to the plant almost innumerable.f This is remarkably 
exemplified in the Beech and the Sycamore, and still 
more in the Ash, of which the fibrous roots sometimes 
amount to millions. Such soils, accordingly, furnish the 
best rooting ground, and are always favourites with the 
planter. To fit trees, however, for removal to situations 
of great exposure^ the roots may, by artificial methods, 
be multiplied to a degree far beyond what can be accom- 
plished by unassisted nature ; and thus, by art discreetly 
employed, the business of vegetation — that is, the circula- 

* Note IV. 

t Dii Hamel, Phys. des Arbres, torn. i. p. 82, Ellis, Veget, Anat. in Sup. to 
Encyclop. Britan. 



96 



THE planter's guide. 



tion of the sap — is preyented from standing still dui'ing 
the extreme violence which transplanting, in its best form, 
mnst inflict. 

Fourthly. — Extent, balance, and closeness of branches. 
Branches, like the roots and stem, are classed among the 
conservative organs. They are divisions of the trunk, 
originating generally in the upper extremity, but often 
likewise along the sides. The primary divisions are 
again subdivided into secondary divisions, and these again 
into divisions still smaller, till they terminate at last in 
slender twigs or spray. In point of external form and 
structm'e, branches resemble the trunk from which they 
issue ; but in point of insertion, distribution, and direc- 
tion, they exhibit considerable variety, furnishing a ground 
of distinction occasionally assumed by botanists in the 
discriminating and characterising of species. Like the 
stem and root, branches increase in width by the accession 
of new layers, and in length by tlie addition of new 
shoots ; but they are not formed merely by means of an 
horizontal extension of the longitudinal tubes of the 
stem, but each branch is, as it were, a distinct individual. 
Hence the stem is to the branch what the soil is to the 
plant — the source of nourishment and stability.* 

Branches may properly be considered as among the 
most important parts of trees, as they certainty are the 
most beautiful. One of the most obvious offices they 
have to perform is to support the leaves ; and the leaves, 
by a respiration perceptible and imperceptible, and by 
the action of the atmosphere, as above noticed, elaborate 
the sap sent up by the roots, and convert it into juice 
fitted for nutrition. The ascent of the sap from the roots 
seems to be considerably assisted by a proper number of 

* Grew, Anat. of Plants, p. 28. Du Hamel, torn. i. p. 93. Keith, vol. i. pp. 
48-51 ; vol. ii. pp. 255, 256. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



97 



side-branches, distributed along the stem ; and the 
general health and vigour of the tree are in the same 
way increased ; so that it will ultimately attain a greater 
size than if deprived of such branches, or very sparingly 
supplied vrith them. During the descent of the proper 
juice, on the other hand, as has been seen, each branch is 
nomished by the sap prepared by itself ; and the surplus 
quantity beyond what is so employed goes to the increase, 
first of the stem, and in the end of the roots. From the 
experiments made by the most accurate observers, we 
fiu'ther find, that the solid texture of the wood depends on 
the quantity of the descending sap, and in a great mea- 
sure likewise on the slowness of its descent ; both of 
which objects are materially promoted by the lateral 
branches.'" But should they exceed the due number 
requisite for those important purposes, retaining too 
much of the sap which they prepare, and affording too 
scanty a supply to the stem, they may in ordinary cases 
be considered as robbers, and should be curtailed by 
pruning within proper limits. 

In this view it will be perceived that judicious pruning 
is a work of far greater nicety and difficulty than is gene- 
rally believed, and that it should not be permitted, unless 
under the superintendence of some scientific person. It is 
true it has been shown by the ingenious Mr Pontey, that 
severe pruning wiU in some cases augment the actual 
weight of the stem, and therefore, as he speciously arg-ues, 
the value of the tree. But great doubts may be enter- 
tained whether this writer, meritorious as he is, may not 
have proceeded on erroneous principles in his theory ; 
and that his practice in pruning has been carried to a 
height sanctioned by neither science nor experience.f 

* Knight on the Sap of Trees, Philosoph. Trans. 1803, 1804. Mirbel, Anat. 
et Phys. Veget. art. 6. 
t Note V. 

G 



98 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



Branches, besides giving to trees both beauty and 
nourishment, serve to balance them properly, and by 
throwing themselves out on every side, aid the trees in 
withstanding the wind, in whichever way it may blow. 
Most trees, if not prevented by adverse circumstances, 
have at first a leading shoot, which tends perpendicularly 
upwards, and is invested with a pre-eminence over the 
other branches. Having reached the height which the 
soil and situation admit, the central shoot loses its pre- 
eminence. The sap required to give it superior vigour 
seems then to fail, and it gradually disappears among the 
other shoots. Meanwhile, the plastic powers of the trees 
soon multiply the branches of the top, which last gradu- 
ally obtains a rounded form, and becomes what the 
nurserymen call " clump-headed." But this sort of head, 
so desirable for picturesque piu-poses, may also be pro- 
cured by judicious treatment, as will be seen in the sequel — 
and with sufficient room for expansion during the youth- 
ful age of the tree, and while the central shoot yet main- 
tains its pre-eminence and the power of reaching its 
greatest height. 

It is pleasing to observe, in this place, how beauty and 
utility coincide in the same object. In proportion as the 
tree has room to expand on every side, (agreeably to the 
foregoing account of the action and reaction of the difife- 
rent parts on one another,) it must be with an equal and 
corresponding expansion of the roots. As the exposure 
is increased, we uniformly perceive that both branches 
and roots multiply. Towards the quarter most exposed, 
the branches are always more contracted in their growth, 
but in general more thickly set with spray ; plainly for 
the purpose of furnishing a closer cover of leaves for the 
protection of the sap-vessels, as they lie immediately 
under the bark. This, however, is by no means incon- 



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99 



sistent with the established fact, that a more active vege- 
tation is carried on on the warmer than the colder sides 
of trees, and a greater deposition of nutrient matter 
consequently made on the former : because by far the 
largest and longest branches are always found on the 
warmer side, though more thinly disposed oyer it — and 
they prove the superior activity of vegetation there ; 
while the shorter, but weaker and more crowded style of 
ramification on the colder side shows, in like manner, its 
inferior activity. Nevertheless, the clothing of leaves is 
in this way usually thicker, for the wise purpose of 
defence from cold, on the side last mentioned. 

This is extremely well illustrated in the general 
development of the position of branches, which we see 
assume all the varieties of form, from the reflected to the 
horizontal and the upright. In all these instances it is 
observable that the lowermost branches are parallel to 
the surface of the soil on which they grow, even although 
its smface should be the sloping side of a hill ; owing, as 
is supposed by phytologists, to the evolution of a greater 
number of buds on the side that forms the obtuse angle 
with the surface, in consequence of its being exposed to 
the action of a greater mass of air.'"' From this state- 
ment, however, it will be perceived that the most exposed 
tree is, generally speaking, the most picturesque and 
beautiful. 

To the inexperienced planter it may seem paradoxical 
to assert, that the largest-headed tree, if well balanced, is 
the best calculated, on removal, to resist the winds. But 
the assertion is nevertheless true, if the foregoing facts be 
correctly given : because, as the roots are always corre- 
lative to the branches, it will be found that the smallest- 

* Physiolog. Bot. vol. ii. p. 256. La Nature Devoilee, Dial. xiv. See 
Note VI. 



100 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



headed tree is the least able to support itself in an open 
situation. It is to trees only with insignificant heads, 
and sparingly furnished with lateral branches, although 
they expose a much lesser surface to the wind, that props 
or supports are at all necessary, after being properly 
transplanted ; and it matters little whether these defects 
have been produced by ignorance and the axe, or by 
undue confinement. From all which facts and observa- 
tions it is apparent that branches, being organs to a cer- 
tain extent necessary to the existence and health of all 
trees, are indispensable in a peculiar degree to such as 
are intended for removal. If the roots, in their capacity 
of absorbents, collect and send up a supply of food to the 
plant, the leaves, which are a constituent part of the 
branches, in their capacity of exhalents perform a func- 
tion at least as important, by preparing and rendering 
that food fit for nutrition ; while the branches act as the 
main channels in distributing it to every part of the 
plant. Other things, therefore, being equal, it may be 
held as an axiom in practice, that the success of the 
planter will be nearly in proportion to the fulness of 
ramification of top and sides which his subjects may 
possess. 

It is further deserving of remark, that although there 
is little more which we can do towards either beauty or 
utility, where nature regulates the process, than humbly 
to follow her footsteps, yet experience leads us to believe 
that, in transplanting, (which, however, is a department of 
art,) art may improve the balance, and of course the 
beauty of trees, on a principle to all appearance contrary 
to nature, and certainly opposed to all former practice. 
It is well known to those best acquainted with woods, 
that most trees are unequally balanced, and show what is 
called a " weather side'' — usually to the west and south- 



THE PLANTEk's GUIDE. 



101 



Avest in this island — from wliicli side they seem to bend, 
and exhibit in consequence a very unseemly appearance. 
The same thing also takes place in close plantations, 
where they are mechanically injured by others. Of this 
propensity to bend to the gale, the Beech and the Larch 
are remarkable examples; and there is scarcely any tree, 
the Sycamore perhaps excepted, which, does not exhibit a 
weather side towards the blast, and towards the opposite 
side throw out by far the longest and stoutest branches. 
In other words, all trees growing for a certain time in 
exposed situations, or even in close ones where they 
cannot equally expand, may be said to be ill balanced. 
This, in parks much exposed, is found a very serious 
eyesore; as in such situations the stems describe very 
unequal angles with the surface, singularly acute on the 
one side, and as obtuse on the other. It is true the 
painter sometimes makes use of such objects in his land- 
scapes, as being agreeable to nature. Kent, the father of 
landscape gardening, planted dead trees in his earlier 
designs, the better to imitate natural variety, until he was 
laughed out of the practice by his friends or rivals. But 
most planters of the present day will regard it as safer 
and more judicious to copy beautiful rather than deformed 
nature in most instances, and leave those picturesque 
effects which disfigurement occasionally supplies to be 
produced by accident, rather than by intentional labour. 

In order to remedy the striking deformity in question, 
I have, in transplanting, uniformly reversed the position of 
the tree in its new situation. By that means, and in 
consequence of greater warmth, the greater activity of 
vegetation is transferred to the deficient side, the equal 
balance of the tree is gradually effected, and its beauty 
and symmetry are unspeakably augmented. In exposed 
situations, there is no other possible way of procuring a 



102 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



full and extensiye ramification on the stormy side: for 
wherever the action of the air is the greatest, there the 
greatest evolution of buds, as above stated, and the 
thickest growth of spray, will take place ; but those 
growths, for the reasons already assigned, are shorter and 
feebler in proportion as they are more numerous. In so 
far, then, the art of transplanting on fixed principles may 
be said to substitute beauty for deformity, and fairly to 
cure one of the most prominent defects which, in a pictu- 
resque view, park trees in loose dispositions are apt to 
display, particularly on our western coasts. Probably I 
am the first planter who ever thought of turning these 
properties of woody plants to any practical or useful 
purpose.'" 

In respect to the health and strength of the trees, I 
have never found it to injure them, or in any wise to 
impede their growth. As soon as the warmer or more 
sheltered side becomes the colder or more exposed, accor- 
ding to the law of nature, the respective parts soon accom- 
modate themselves to the circumstances in which they are 
placed. The free extension of branches, which in the 
former position had been acquired by the sheltered side, 
loses none of its pre-eminence, while the contracted 
growths on the opposite side as freely expand. The 
health and progress of the tree sustain no check or detri- 
ment, while its equal balance and symmetry are both 
singularly improved. On this subject I may speak with 
some confidence, after long experience in the removal of 
wood of all sorts, and in a situation decidedly exposed; 
because the exposure of nearly the one half of the park 
here is considerable, and the climate on the whole is none 
of the most propitious. The practice, therefore, may be 

% 

* Note VII. 



THE TLANTER's GUIDE. 



103 



deemed of some value to the planter, who will perceive 
that where so great a point is gained no visible injury 
is suffered, as is admitted by all who have examined the 
trees at this place. That almost every naturalist and 
georgical writer, ancient and modern, from Theophrastus 
to Virgil, and from Virgil down to Evelyn and his fol- 
lowers, has insisted on an opposite practice, as quite indis- 
pensable to the health and well-being of woody plants, is 
little to the purpose. It is nothing more than a reite- 
rated precept, handed down from one age to another, in 
the face of the most unquestionable experience of its 
fallacy.'''" 

Upon the whole, in considering this fairest and most 
beautiful of vegetable productions, it is interesting to 
observe the curious and compKcated mechanism, if I may 
so speak, that is displayed by nature in nourishing and 
bringing it to perfection, and the intimate connexion 
which subsists between the most distant parts. In fact, 
every part of a tree is the condition of every other part, 
which continually acts and reacts. The judicious planter, 
therefore, will regard the treatment to be given to none 
of these parts with indifference; it being clear that the 
preservation of all the parts, in as entire and perfect a 
state as possible, is a matter of first-rate moment to his 
art.f He will also see that his success mainly depends 
on the due regidation of the sap, and a careful protection 
of the sap -vessels. 

In the course of the foregoing remarks and illustrations, 
I have endeavoured to show the importance of the four 
main properties, or prerequisites, which trees should pos- 
less to render them fit for removal to exposed situations. 
I have also given a cursory idea of the nature of the 



* Note VIII. 



t Note IX. 



104 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



different organs of woody plants^ by whicli those pro- 
perties are designated. From what has been said, the 
inteUigent reader will perceive, that the principle adopted 
for a new theory of the art is founded on the laws of 
vegetation, and the researches of the most eminent phy- 
tologists. By reducing it to practice, the mutilating 
system now generally prevalent will be rendered unneces- 
sary, and a method established which is obviously supe- 
rior in itself, and more agreeable to observation and 
experience. This system I shall venture to call the 
Peeseryatiye. But before concluding these remarks, it 
is but fair towards the existing system to take a short 
view of the actual merits of both, and, by giving them in 
a comparative way, endeavour to show how each applies 
to practice. 

We will suppose that a planter, according to the muti- 
lating method, is to remove to an exposed situation a tree 
eight-and-twenty or thirty feet high, three feet and a half 
in girth (or fourteen inches in diameter) at a foot from 
the ground. We will suppose further, that it displays 
the most perfect symlnetry of form, having an expansion 
of top from five-and-twenty to eight-and-twenty feet, 
with boughs descending to within three or four feet of 
the ground. Such a tree we may consider as a very 
handsome subject, and sucli as has frequently been 
removed at this place. 

Having prepared the roots according to Lord Fitz- 
harding's method, three or four years before, and taken 
them up as well as he can, perhaps seven feet out from 
the stem, (which, according to Marshall, is well rooted for 
its height,'") we will suppose that this planter then pro- 
ceeds to lighten and lop the top, in order to reduce it, as 



* Rural Ornament, vol. i. p. 367. 




SPECIMElsr or A TREE, E_EMOVED ON THE 
PRESERVITIVE PRrHCIPLE. 
BlacTHTOoiSc Sons.EarnlTOXgh ^rlondon. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



105 



tlie same intelligent writer recommends, " to the ability 
of the roots." We will, moreoyer, take it for granted 
that he deals mercifully with this beautiful tree, and cuts 
away only a half or a third part of its boughs, and thus 
transfers it to its new situation. Under these circum- 
stances, we may presume that some props or fastenings, 
whether of wood or cordage, may be requisite, especially 
about the equinox, to preserve the tree in an upright 
position. Now, will not all the eyils ascribed by Miller 
to the mutilating system, independently altogether of 
picturesque considerations, soon begin to assail it '? Having 
the roots and top (which are both conservative organs) 
curtailed and injured at one and the same time, the 
supply not less than the preparation of the sap is com- 
pletely impeded. From the obvious want of leaves 
sufficient to elaborate the sap, and the equally striking 
want of branches to communicate nourishment to the 
stem, and ultimately to the roots, the whole tree in most 
instances becomes stunted and paralysed. Pale and 
yellowish tints supply the place of a deep and healthful 
verdure of foliage, a,nd the larger boughs, as well as the 
light spray, gradually decay and drop off. Even in cases 
which are the most eminently successful, and where the 
tree fortunately escapes these mischances, fifteen years, 
as I conceive it, in the best English climates, and twenty 
and five-and-twenty at least in the northern counties and 
in Scotland, are scarcely sufficient to replace the ampu- 
tations with fresh wood, and to restore the tree to its 
natural health and strength. 

What, we may ask, have now become of its fine sym- 
metry of form, its characteristic and ample top, "its 
happy surface (as Gilpin expresses it) for catching great 
masses of light V What also has become of the fair 
promise which, before removal, it held out of enduring 



106 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



vigour, and of sound and healthy wood ? All these are 
gone, as Miller truly states ; all are utterly annihilated 
by the rude assaults of the axe, which has left no trace 
remaining of their existence. The most prominent and 
characteristic features of the species, which mainly reside 
in the top, have disappeared also by the same process : 
for even when such trees do succeed, and acquire the 
formal and hush-lihe head, common to all that are 
removed after the mutilating method, " it is seldom," as 
Pontey observes, " that they harmonise with any thing 
about them."'"" On comparing them with plants raised 
from the nursery, or the seed, we perceive but a small 
saving of time in favour of this system : yet it is time 
saved with the infliction of such evils, and the sacrifice of 
such advantages, as to render it any thing but desirable 
to the planter of taste. 

On the other hand, we will suppose the same planter to 
transfer a tree of similar description and dimensions to a 
situation of similar exposure, but according to the preser- 
vative method. This tree, being a subject of uncommon 
beauty, as above described, and having a head of more than 
five-and-twenty feet broad, strong roots of fourteen and 
fifteen feet of a side (instead of seven) are taken up with 
it, together with abundance of the minutest fibres, after a 
peculiar method, to be explained in the sequel. Instead 
of lopping and defacing the top and side-branches, the 
whole are left untouched, and their fine symmetry is 
preserved entire. Transportation of the tree to its 
destined site then follows ; where, after being replanted 
according to a peculiar method, also productive of sta- 
bility in an extraordinary degree, it is found capable of 
resisting the wind on the simplest principles, namely, the 
acquired steadfastness of the stem, and the length and 

* Rural Improver, p. 87. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



107 



distribution of the roots, added to the balance of an 
extensive top, from whatever quarter it may blow. 

During the first spring, when the sap begins to flow 
abundantly upwards, if no severe frosts supervene to cut 
down the slender spray of the top, not a branch or a 
twig is found to decay. The sap ascends, by means of 
adequate roots, in a sufficient quantity for the support of 
both, and for enabling the leaves to perform their elabo- 
rating functions. The leaves, therefore, though for 
obvious reasons of a lesser size, and sometimes a lighter 
colour than usual, during the first season vnwersally 
clothe every part. After the first, or at all events after 
the second year, under common circumstances, the deep 
hue of health and the fulness of leaf which the tree 
formerly displayed again return; and while its foliage 
glitters in the sunshine, or floats on the breeze, no eye 
can distinguish whether it has been two years or forty in 
its new situation. Picturesque efi'ect or shelter, as the 
planter's object chances to be, is in this way obtained 
from the first. But no planter of experience will expect 
shoots of much consequence to appear till the tree be 
established in the ground. This of course requires four 
or five years, at least in the climate of Scotland, after 
which it usually shoots forth with vigour ; and the longer 
it stands, according to the preservative system, it will 
shoot with the greater vigour, as the experience of more 
than thirty years has incontestibly proved. By this 
statement, then, it appears that the system in question has, 
in this country, the power of saving, and in some sort of 
anticipating, forty years of the life of man — a large 
portion, in any view, of that uncertain possession. And 
thus, by following such a system, the immediate and full 
efl'ect of wood is at once procured at a moderate expense, 
as shall be made apparent in the sequel. 



108 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



In this view of the two methods, I am not conscious to 
myself of having exaggerated the evils, or concealed any 
of the advantages, attendant on the mutilating system ; 
at least, if the opinions of Miller, Marshall, Pontey, and 
other skilful planters and phytologists, be well founded. 
Should any of my readers conceive that I have too highly 
coloured the delineation of the preservative, let them do 
me the honour to visit this place, and judge for themselves. 
Which of the two methods is deserving of the preference, 
I leave to the decision of the impartial. But I will take 
the liberty to add, that as I write chiefly for the practical, 
not for the speculative improver, probably those planters 
will be found to judge most candidly, in this competition 
between the systems, who have themselves tried the 
practice of the art. 

Thus I have endeavoured, in the course of the foregoing 
observations, to develop and illustrate certain principles 
for the improvement of this art, and also that of general 
planting ; which principles, though derived from science, 
may not attract the notice they deserve. It is only on 
an acquaintance with vegetable physiology and the 
anatomy of plants, with the habits they display and the 
organs and properties they possess, that any sound founda- 
tion can be laid for practical arboriculture. The lessons 
suggested by this inquiry, and the conclusions to which 
it has led, are the fruit of long experience and a careful 
induction of facts and experiments, the only safe and true 
method of philosophising on any subject. From what 
has been said, the inexperienced planter will see of how 
much importance it is for him in this, as in othe^ things, 
to distrust established dogmas, to adopt some phytological 
inquiry as the groundwork of his practice, and to think 
for himself. 

Yet there are those who may imagine that, in a treatise 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



109 



professing to be ^radical, I have dwelt unnecessarily 
long on tlie exposition of principles. But tliej may rest 
assured that no method could have been devised more 
certain, than a thorough acquaintance with them, to 
shorten the road to knowledge. Without this, the utmost 
diligence of the planter is being at sea without a compass. 
Accurate practice and manual dexterity are soon acquired, 
and can succeed only when made subservient to principles, 
and to a careful study of those beautiful but simple 
methods which nature pursues in perfecting her works. 



SECTION V. 



FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW THEORY. SELECTION 
OF SUBJECTS FOR REMOVAL. 

If it be true, as has been observed bj a judicious 
writer,''^ that the removal of large trees "forms the most 
difficult part of planting/^ it is certainly not less true 
that the selection of subjects forms the most difficult part 
of transplanting. This I have no expectation is to gain 
general belief with country gentlemen, or even with 
practical planters of superior intelligence ; because both 
consider planting merely as a mechanical art, and neither 
will easily be brought to study it as an object of interest- 
ing science, or even liberal inquiry. When Demosthenes 
was asked what he considered as the first quality in an 
orator, he at once replied, action, according to the very 
extensive acceptation of that term which prevailed in his 
day. When questioned as to the second quality, he said, 
action : and being desired to name the third, he still gav e 
the same answer. In this emphatic way, I must own, I 
should be disposed to speak of the selection of subjects, 
were I to be similarly questioned by the young planter, 
whether his curiosity were directed to planting in general, 
or to any particular branch or department of the art ; 
and I should earnestly recommend this difficult subject t o 
his patient investigation and his most assiduous study. 
It is obvious, however, in the department under con- 

* Marshall. 



THE PLAJ^TER's GUIDE. 



Ill 



sideratioii, that to transplant at all yve must have subjects. 
At a place of any extent, tolerable subjects are never 
wanting ; although they must abound or be deficient 
according to the diligence of culture, especially in respect 
to thinning, with which the woods and plantations have 
been treated. Yet it must not be imagined that, at places 
of small extent, subjects are not likewise to be found. At 
such, tlie current of the prevailing winds is always less 
broken, and the climate less improved, than under the 
shelter of broad and extensive masses of wood. Other 
things, therefore, being equal, there will probably be more 
and better subjects at small or middle-sized places than 
at great — that is, in proportion to the size of the masses 
from which they are taken. But it should be remembered, 
that at both they may often be invisible to the eyes of 
the owners. 

Woods are planted for two main purposes — utihty and 
ornament, with both of which shelter is obviously com- 
bined. In woods planted for utility, the greatest elonga- 
tion of the stems of trees is required ; and close planting, 
pruning, and other means are employed, to obtain what 
is considered as the greatest possible " weight of wood." 
In plantations raised for beauty or shelter, such as in 
parks and pleasure-grounds, the planter's object is to 
prevent an undue elongation of the stems, unless for 
particular purposes, and to promote an expansion of the 
tops of trees, so as to enable them to develop themselves 
in their just and natural proportions. It is almost need- 
less to observe, that it is from woods or plantations of 
the last-mentioned description that the selection of sub- 
jects is for the most part to be made. If made judiciously, 
it will furnish, without doubt, the best practical illustration 
of the principles held forth, and the theory attempted to 
be established, in the two foregoing chapters. 



112 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



Before proceeding to deliver any specific rules on this 
important topic, perhaps the best way will be to attempt 
an indirect road to our purpose, by enumerating the most 
common errors committed by planters in their choice of 
subjects ; and then by endeavouring shortly to account, 
from the laws of nature, for the ill success that has 
attended such selection. 

The most common errors which injudicious planters 
commit appear to be of three different kinds : first, they 
bestow no pains or care in the adaptation of trees to the 
particular soils in which they are calculated to thrive ; 
secondly, they have recourse to close woods and planta- 
tions for the supply of subjects ; and thirdly, they set 
out plants at too early an age, and of too diminutive 
a size, into the open field. 

First, as to the non-adaptation of trees to their pro- 
per soils. All plants, woody or herbaceous, seem to be 
fitted by nature to grow best in particular soils and sub- 
soils, in which they thrive more luxuriantly than in 
others. This is a fact which is, or should be, familiar to 
all planters. In other departments, such as husbandry, 
it is universally understood. No farmer of intelligence 
ever errs in adapting his crops to the soils most proper 
for them, or puts his wheat or his beans where his 
barley or turnip should be put, or vice versa. Not so, 
however, the planter ; for nine times in ten he pays no 
regard to adaptation, but puts the same trees indiscri- 
minately on every soil. Even late practical writers of 
name and authority advocate the practice, and recom- 
mend that mixed plantations of all trees should univer- 
sally be made, with the design, as they allege, of 
producing " a greater weight of wood" than by any 
other method. This is a system which, to say the least, 
sets little value on experience. In fact, it equahses all 



THE planter's guide. 



113 



plants and all soils at once, and renders all judgment in 
treating them superfluous. 

But however such a method may succeed in producing 
mixed effects in plantations, it cannot be admitted for 
wood in the lawn or park, in which the prominent effects 
are to result from small groups or individual trees, and 
where, on that account, every single failure tells and 
appears conspicuous. No man who knows any thing of 
wood will put down the Sycamore, the Lime, or the Wild 
Cherry, for example, on a clayey soil ; neither will he put 
the Oak or the Elm on light sand or gravel, but, on the 
contrary, on the deepest and loamiest land he can find, 
and in the case of the Oak, even with a clay bottom : for 
although that tree, in particular, is the most accommoda- 
ting of all plants, it is only on land of this sort that it 
will really thrive and grow to timber. But by the skilful 
planter the subsoil is often regarded as of more moment 
than the mere texture of the surface, as the degrees of 
moisture most suitable to woody plants form perhaps the 
most prominent features in their characteristic differences. 
It is therefore of the utmost importance to the planter 
carefully to study these distinctions. In certain situ- 
ations, where he might be anxious for the grand effect of 
the Oak or the Chestnut, it will often be prudent for him 
to be content with the inferior forms of the Lime or the 
Beech. 

It is a maxim of good sense as well as good taste, of 
which every man conversant with wood is not suflSciently 
aware, namely, that those trees about a place will always 
looh the handsomest that thrive the best, and that no 
peculiarity of ramification, nor delicacy of foliage, can ever 
compensate for a deficiency of luxuriance and fuU health. 
A rage for exotics, for plants with new names, or of 
more delicate habits than the soil and climate will pro- 

H 



114 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



properly rear, is, I am sorry to say, the besetting sin of 
the present race of planters. The errors which are com- 
mitted for want of this sort of adaptation in transplanted 
wood are scarcely credible, unless by those who have 
closely attended to the subject. A striking example has 
been brought forward in Note I., Section I. A number 
of others that have come under my observation might be 
added, were it necessary, as a great proportion of the 
failures which take place in transplanting are distinctly 
referable to this fruitful source. 

The second error to which I shall advert is, the having 
recourse to close woods and plantations for the supply of 
subjects for removal. Perhaps there is no planter who, 
in the beginning, has not fallen into this mistake, before 
he has had sufficient time to attend to the effects of heat 
and cold on the growth of wood. Allured by the fine 
forms of trees so trained, by the tallness of their stems, 
the beauty of their bark, and their general appearance of 
health and strength, we naturally form the wish to 
transfer them to the lawn or open park : but we should 
reflect that, how much soever they may please the eye, 
there are no properties so unfit as these for this degree of 
exposure, as they are generated solely by warmth and 
shelter. As well might we bring forth the native of the 
burning plains of Asia or Africa, and in the light attire 
of those tropical climates expect him to endure a British 
winter. Either the facts respecting exposed and sheltered 
wood, as above stated, are incorrect and unfounded, or 
nature must be supposed to act in contradiction to her- 
self, if she sanctioned such incongruities. Yet ninety- 
nine times in a hundred the success of an art, which, if 
rightly understood, would be interesting to many, is fairly 
marred by this erroneous practice. JSTor are these the 
errors of youth or inexperience. Two of our best 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



115 



informed writers, Boiitclier and Marshall, as we have 
akeadj seen, regard the art as mainlj applicable to "the 
thinning of nurseries or plantations," and recommend it 
accordingly for that purpose. 

It is not necessary to dwell long on so unhappy a 
system of selection. The trees being transferred to a 
climate colder by several degrees than that in which they 
were trained, and with the peculiar conditions and pro- 
perties adapted to the latter, internally decline. The 
usual lightening or mutilating of the tops affords no 
alleviation or remedy from without. In such a situation 
the mechanical effect of wind would be sufficient of itself, 
without any other cause, to ensure their miscarriage. 
Yet as they carry leaf, and show no immediate symptoms 
of decay in the outset, their ultimate, though certain 
failure is not contemplated by the sanguine planter. 
With roots inadequate either to fix them in the earth, 
or to furnish the supply of sap which their new circum- 
stances demand, they are incapable of extending them- 
selves either above or underground. The leaves, from 
the deprivation of shelter, cannot freely elaborate the sap ; 
and the proper juice, on the other hand, is chilled in its 
descent, from the want of leaves, and branches, and bark, 
sufficient to protect the sap-vessels. Meanwhile, the 
trees are vexed by the winds from every quarter. They 
want side-boughs to nourish and balance them properly. 
Gradually they become stunted and hidebound. The 
few branches they have decay and drop off ; and at last 
they are rooted out, as a proof of the hoplessness of the 
art, and the inutility of all attempts to cultivate it. A 
few plants, perhaps, taken from the outskirts of the wood, 
and partly furnished with the protecting properties, 
struggle on for ten or fifteen years, until they acquire 
these properties to a certain extent ; and beginning then 



116 



THE PLANTEE'S GUIDE. 



only to thrive, after half a lifetime of expectation, they 
show beyond controyersy, to the planter and his friends, 
how much more speedily trees might have been got up to 
an equal size from the nursery or the seed-bed ! It is, 
however, perfectly obvious that nothing less than a 
miracle — that is, a counteraction of the course of nature 
for a special purpose — could have effected any other 
results. 

The third and last error, or cause of miscarriage, 
remaining to be noticed, is the setting out of plants of 
too diminutive a size into the open field. This error is 
not less frequent than the others, and is usually com- 
mitted by those who condemn the practice of large 
removals, or who are of opinion that "large trees and 
small possess similar properties, and are therefore to be 
managed on similar principles.^^ All thriving wood, 
they say, whether in masses or open groups, must be got 
up by means of small plants. Nature, according to these 
planters, to a certainty produces wood of every sort 
within a given time ; and experience demonstrates that, 
if we wait that time, we cannot miss the produce. It is 
through haste and impatience to anticipate the period 
that we incur disappointment. It is a well-known fact, 
as they further allege, that, in the course of forty or fifty 
years, trees of considerable magnitude may be raised on 
almost any land in Britain that is of tolerable quality ; 
hence it must follow that a nobleman's or gentleman's 
park, which in general is superiorly cultivated, will in all 
likelihood raise them in a less time. 

On such undeniable data these operators often proceed 
to fill a whole park with plants taken from the nursery- 
ground, of three, four, and sometimes six feet high. 
Great care is bestowed in planting out the trees, and still 
greater expense in securing them from sheep and cattle. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



117 



Palings, hurdles, cordage, according to the taste and con- 
sequence of the owners, are all employed for that 
necessary end ; and those ponderous and unsightly 
erections, when abundantly scattered over an extensive 
and open surface, serve to fill the eye, and afford a 
pleasing anticipation of what these stripling plants are 
expected to do at a future day. As to the expense of 
such barricadoes, (which will always last for five or six 
years,) they hold it as insignificant, when compared with 
the formidable cost of removing large trees. That cannot 
be accomplished, they conceive, without heavy charges for 
men and machinery, not to mention the contingency of a 
fortuitous art ; whereas with young and healthy plants, 
as they beheve, you have only to wait for a few years 
with patience, when success, as in other things, must be 
the reward of industry. 

I once knew a gentleman, not destitute of talents or 
intelligence in rural afiuirs, who in this way had planted 
about two-thirds of his place, which was of some extent, 
though for the most part exposed to the west and south- 
west. When I saw it, this arboricultural experiment had 
gone on for about five-and-thirty years, and even the 
owner had by that time begun to despair of its success. 
A very few of the plants, meeting with a deep soil, and 
with sites singularly sheltered, had got up to about twenty 
feet high. The generality, and especially in trying ex- 
posures, had grown to large bushes. What was once their 
leading shoot had lost its pre-eminence over the side- 
branches, plainly indicating that no further elongation of 
the stem was to be expected. Moreover, they had begun, 
like old trees, to be clump-headed, and to assume the ap- 
pearance of premature old age. As to the expense of 
the hurdles and pales, five or six times renewed, together 
with the loss of the ground which they occupied, it 



118 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



amounted, according to the candid acknowledgment of the 
owner himself, to far more than the cost of removing 
proper subjects in the beginning ! The consequence was, 
that he was persuaded to replant nearly the whole of his 
park on better principles, and with trees of from fiye-and- 
twenty to thirty feet high ; and he lived to see them 
vigorous plants, productive of picturesque effect in no 
small degree, with the promise of becoming timber for the 
succeeding generation. What he most regretted was, not 
so much the pecuniary loss which he had actually sustained, 
as the loss of nearly a lifetime in vexation and disap- 
pointment. 

To the vegetable physiologist, (if any such should be 
among my readers,) it is almost unnecessary to detail the 
radical and efficient causes of this species of failure. 
Every organic creation, whether animal or vegetable, 
requires during infancy the aid of considerable heat, to 
enable it to develop its powers and to expand freely. The 
tenderness, and indeed utter helplessness, of man and other 
animals, at this early stage of their existence, press more 
forcibly upon our notice than the case of the vegetable 
tribe under similar circumstances ; yet both are governed 
by the same natural laws, and display in their develop- 
ment a striking analogy. The planter who, without due 
consideration, sets out a tender plant into the open field, 
would not rashly so expose a young dog or horse, until, by 
a proper degree of warmth and care, its constitution were 
confirmed, and it had acquired strength to resist cold, and 
other ills and accidents. A certain portion of heat, that 
is, of shelter, is in the very same way indispensable to trees 
during infancy, in order that they may grow with freedom, 
so as that, when their organs are matured, and their strength 
properly established, they may withstand the elements in 
open exposures. Hence, to set them out prematurely is 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



119 



to a certainty to paralyse their energies, and check the 
development of their parts. 

The intelligent reader, I have no doubt, will be pleased 
to find how clear and full an illustration of this doctrine 
was afforded by the close plantations of the gentleman 
just now mentioned. It so happened, when he planted 
the open and exposed parts of his park with small trees 
from the nursery-ground, as already stated, that at the 
same time, and with a part of the same plants, he exe- 
cuted a considerable stretch of the adjoining plantations. 
When I examined the latter, the trees were, for the most 
part, about thirty and five-and-thirty feet high, and in a 
state of the most perfect health. They had been drawn 
up and protected in the warm and kindly atmosphere 
generated by close woods. The outside rows had acquired 
to a certain degree the protecting properties, and were 
nearly fit for removal ; and the whole exhibited a striking 
contrast to the diminutive and stunted plants in the 
adjoining park, many of which, instead of five-and-thirty 
feet, had not grown above as many inches from the 
time they were set out ! 

It is indubitable that one and all of these radical 
errors in practice, into which planters fall, originate 
mainly in a want of science to regulate it, and of a com- 
petent knowledge of the history and properties of woody 
plants. General planting, as well as every particular 
department of the art, as has been already noticed, must 
depend for its success on scientific principles. Since the 
first pubKcation of this essay, it is pleasing to perceive 
some symptoms of the public attention being roused to 
physiological inquiry on this subject. But nothing less 
than an institution for the encouragement of arboriculture 
exclusively, will supply this desideratum in the education 
and intelligence of the country, and place the art on that 



120 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



footing of respectability to which no one will deny it is 
entitled by its importance. 

In what, then, it may be asked, does a proper selection 
of subjects consist A proper selection of subjects con- 
sists, as I conceive it, (exclusively of picturesque considera- 
tions,) in two things especially: first, in a judicious 
adaptation of trees to their proper soils ; and secondly, 
in" taking care that the trees so adapted possess as 
great a share of the protecting or non-protecting proper- 
ties as is fairly required by the situation of exposure, or 
of shelter, in which the trees are to be placed. Of these 
two points the former has already been sufi&ciently illus- 
trated, in the course of the foregoing discussion on the 
want of adaptation. As to the latter, it may be observed, 
that much will depend, in applying it to practice, on the 
particular objects of selection which the planter may have 
in view. 

If liis object be single or detached trees, and such as 
are intended to be set out in trying exposures, the acqui- 
sition of the protecting properties must be the chief end 
and aim of his selection ; and the trees must have made 
the acquisition in sites as much exposed at least as those 
to which they are to be removed. He may rest assured, 
in this case, that his success or miscarriage will be in the 
precise ratio in which his subjects may have obtained 
these indispensable prerequisites. If fully obtained, their 
progress will be visible from the beginning ; but if imper- 
fectly, their progress will be retarded, until the deficiency 
be made up. In other words, as planters do not always 
follow nature in the choice of their subjects, they need 
not be surprised if trees planted out in such exposures 
(supposing them to live at all) should continue ten, fifteen 
years, or more, in a stationary condition, struggling under 
the unpropitious circumstances of cold and exposure to 



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121 



generate provisions which they should previously have 
acquired ; when at length, having overcome the evils of 
injudicious selection, they only then begin to make that 
progress which ignorance and mismanagement have 
retarded/'' 

On the other hand, if his object be to raise close 
masses of wood, (for hiding, for example, some prominent 
defect, or attaining some general ornamental purpose,) of 
which masses the materials are to consist of grove- wood 
and copse intermixed, it is evident that, excepting per- 
haps for the outside rows, the protecting properties would 
be altogether thrown away on such designs. If what has 
been said above be well founded, trees possessing those 
properties would, in this situation, soon have them 
exchanged for the non-protecting, by the heat and shelter 
which a close mass of wood must always generate. Even 
were not that to happen, the needless extension of both 
their branches and roots would prove extremely injurious 
to a plantation where underwood predominated. In 
these circumstances, an operator of judgment would 
select such subjects for his work as possessed the non- 
protecting properties exclusively, and were far more suit- 
able to the designs in question. 

These, however, may be considered as extreme cases, 
while ordinary practice lies in a medium between the two. 
Thus, in parks or places of any extent, the cHmate and 
soil are usually as various as the proportions of the pro- 
tecting properties which have been acquired by different 
trees. The tree which would succeed in the sheltered 
valley would have little chance on the exposed eminence ; 
and to transfer a subject well adapted to the latter to 
the former site, would be to misapply qualities which are 



* Note I. 



122 



THE PLANTEK's GUIDE. 



SO extremely yaliiable, as well as to abridge the range of 
the planter's operations. As the protecting properties, 
therefore, must of course be more rare in all woodlands 
than the non-protecting, one of the most dif&cult tasks 
which the planter has to perform is judiciously to husband 
the application of the former. He should always bear 
in mind that, if he put down but one tree in any given 
spot, in that tree the protecting properties should exist 
in a greater degree than if he put down ten trees, and 
still more than if twenty were put down. Even by 
means of the loosest dispositions and the most scattered 
groups of wood on an open surface, the force of the 
wind is sensibly broken, and hindered from exerting its 
entire violence on any individual tree. In creating 
real landscape, climate is not always to be regarded 
absolutely, but relatively. Absolute elevation may be con- 
siderable, but relative mildness in the climate of a place 
may be as great, from the number and richness of its 
woody accompaniments. Hence poverty of clothing on the 
surface of a park, if we can command the subjects, 
should always be avoided ; for that is as inconsistent 
with the richness of the picture as with the health and 
success of the trees of which it is composed. 

As the modifying of the effect of heat and cold on 
woods, and especially on parks and pleasure-grounds, is 
a subject not generally understood, it may be worth 
while in this place to say a few words respecting it, 
and also respecting the principles on which it is 
founded, as being connected with the subject immedi- 
ately under discussion. Air in several respects resem- 
bles, and is governed by the same laws as another 
element, namely, water, although the effects of the 
former are less cognisable by the eye. If you erect 
powerful abutments on the banks of a river, you may 



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123 



forcibly turn the stream from its course ; but it will 
break with tenfold violence on the opposite side. In 
the same way, if by close and continued plantations 
you endeavour altogether to exclude the wind, it will 
contrive to assail you in some quarter, and, rushing in 
with fury at the first opening it can find, do incalcu- 
lable mischief The art, therefore, of controlling either 
element, consists in judiciously breaking it into parts, 
and thereby dividing, and consequently weakening, its 
force. 

It is on this simple principle — when fine landscape effect 
is produced on the surface of a park, by means of 
large open dispositions of wood, and of groups and 
scattered trees, creating a succession of rich and varied 
pictures — that the climate is best ameliorated, and the 
most effectual defence against the elements is pro- 
cured, whether for plants or animals, or for the comfort 
and accommodation of man. In this instance we see 
that beauty and utility entirely coincide ; for wherever 
park scenery is most successfully cultivated, there heat 
and cold are best modified on woods. It is under 
such circumstances that trees uniformly develop themselves 
in their most natural and most perfect proportions, and 
display the fullest luxuriance of health. Thus, the places 
which are planted in the best style are always the most 
efiectively sheltered ; and thus good sense and good taste 
will be found here, as in most other things, to unite in 
the same object, and mutually to strengthen and confirm 
each other. 

Obvious and satisfactory as this doctrine may appear, 
its soundness is not universally admitted, even by men of 
discernment and understanding. There is a very intelli- 
gent and worthy friend of mine, who reasons in a very 
different way from this on the best method of defending 



124 



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himself from cold. Wherever, says he, the wind enters, I 
immediately stop the gap ; and the more gaps I stop, the 
less the wind will enter : hence it follows that in time I 
shall be completely secured against both wind and cold. 
This gentleman's place, though it stands high, is in many 
respects a noble one. It has picturesque features of a 
striking sort, and it is, moreover, well covered with deep 
masses of full-grown wood, arranged in all the rectilinear 
dignity of a former day, in which here and there was ao 
open and cheerful vista, from which we may suppose his 
ancestors delighted to look out. All these, however, 
from a rooted abhorrence of wind, he some years since 
diligently planted up ; so that his mansion, when viewed 
from without, is rather like a bird's nest in a thicket than 
the grand and central object in an extensive and well- 
wooded park. 

It was in vain that I pressed on my friend the necessity 
of his freely, but gradually, thinning and opening up his 
woods. It was in vain that I expatiated on the striking 
similarity of the two kindred elements of air and water, 
and on the extreme caution that is requisite in the 
management of trees nearly at their best, so as to break 
and dissipate the wind, thereby not only improving the 
trees, but making a beneficial use of so uncertain an 
element. It was to no purpose that I explained to him 
the wise economy which nature displays, in modifying the 
influence of heat and cold on the vegetable kingdom ; and 
that if heat, during the infancy of trees, is necessary to the 
full development of their parts, cold, in a due proportion, 
is just as necessary at an after period : that therefore 
it must follow, in all large masses of wood, where heat is 
superabundant, and light insufliciently supplied, that a 
progressive elongation of stem, and a progressive delicacy 
of constitution, must be the consequence, and in time all 



THE PLA^TEE's guide. 



125 



admission of air be rendered dangerous or impossible: 
that, in these circumstances, were so unnatural a state of 
things suffered to continue, and were he to persist in an 
unavailing warfare with his old enemj the wind, instead 
of prudently conciliating that boisterous element, it was 
clear that ere long it would find or make for itself more 
than one entrance into his premises, however closely 

i secured, and to a certainty blow down his woods. Yet, 
notwithstanding, I am sorry to observe that these dense 
masses and barricades are still continued, and that his 
woods are gradually approaching to a state utterly hope- 
less and irremediable. I fear that my worthy friend is 

i not a solitary instance of want of skill, or rather want of 
resolution, in conducting this important department. 

Having said so much about trees, it may be proper, in 
this place, to add a few observations on the selection of 
subjects for underwood. Copse or underwood for removal 
is of two kinds : the one is that intended to mass up with 
grove-wood, and to form close and mixed plantations ; 
the other is what is meant as subjects for bush-planting 
in the park. Of the properties which the former sort 
should possess little needs be said, as it is evident that 
they may be all quite properly of the non-protecting 
description, and that any other sort of plants would be 
thrown away upon it. Of the latter kind it is equally 
plain that it must have properties suited to exposures, 
although not in the same degree as trees ; because trees, 
on account of their height, and other circumstances, can 
less easily withstand the elements. 

As to bush-planting in the park or open field, it seems 
to be something new, both in the conception and the 
execution. Mr Pontey speaks of the thing in his late 
useful Treatise on laying out grounds, but he justly 
doubts the possibility of protecting such underwood as he 



126 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



recommends for the purpose, until it get to a proper size. 
It is extremely difficult, and in a park where deer, black 
cattle, or horses are kept, probably impossible, to succeed 
in bush-planting, whateyer may be thought by those who 
haye neyer made the experiment, on the perusal of Mr 
Pontey's late work.* Eyen with sheep as the only stock, 
the numerous small and dotted clumps of only a few 
yards square, and fenced with wire, such as he proposes, 
must be ten times more offensiye to the fastidiousness of 
modern taste than the unfortunate clumps of brown, 
which were gigantic in comparison, if the latter now, in 
spite of the seyere interdiction of Messrs Price and 
Knight, were once more to lift up their heads. But 
with middle-sized plants, and a machine of small dimen- 
sions, (as shall be described in the sequel,) the entire 
effect of bush-planting may be obtained, and, I am cer- 
tain, at a fourth part of the expense and trouble of Mr 
Pontey's clumps. 

To select subjects for this purpose will be a matter of 
little difficulty, if the rules abeady explained be suffi- 
ciently apprehended ; and they must, of course, haye the 
principal protecting properties, in as far as the degree of 
exposure may require, especially numerous roots. As 
bushes also, these plants must obyiously be low, from 
four to eight or nine feet high, with broad tops, headed 
down from time to time, and branches as near the ground 
as the sheep will permit them to grow — that is, within 
about three feet and a half — for on this last mentioned 
circumstance their effect mainly depends. They must, 
moreoyer, haye only one stem, or as few as possible for 
the open ground, in order to admit of their being fenced 
with facility, and at a small expense. In this way many 



* Rural Improver, pp. 149, 253, et seq. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



127 



have been planted here, which are desirable as accom- 
paniments to water. Likewise they are useful in massing 
up with tall trees ; in the formation of low skreens, while 
distant objects may be seen over their heads ; and occa- 
sionally in breaking a hard outline, which should always 
be fringed with both trees and bushes. 

Before taking leave of so important a discussion as the 
selection of subjects, it may be asked what, in point of 
size, are to be regarded as the best subjects for removal, 
in accordance with the principle above enunciated To 
this it may be replied, that, if ordinary judgment be 
exercised, and flagrant errors avoided, preference will 
greatly depend on the choice and circumstances of the 
planter. Size oflfers, to successful removal, no actual 
impediment, further than increased expenditure. The 
same principles apply to the largest trees, just as well as 
to the least. But it is material to notice that size implies 
greater labour and contingency, and, by consequence, 
more powerful machinery ; and both rise in a ratio far 
more accelerated than might at first be conceived to 
correspond with the increased dimensions of the trees. 
My own operations as to size having been of a limited 
sort, (the subjects seldom exceeding thirty-five or thirty- 
six feet high, and in the stem from fifteen to eighteen 
inches in diameter,) I do not presume to prescribe to 
what height others should go, because it is altogether 
arbitrary ; but I may with confidence recommend below 
what height they should never descend. No subject, in 
my judgment, should be selected for removal, of which 
the girth of stem is less than from eighteen inches to two 
feet, or, in other words, whose diameter does not extend 
to six or eight inches at the least, reckoning at a foot 
from the ground — the height of the tree being supposed 
from fifteen to eighteen feet. Any subject possessing a 



128 



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lesser magnitude, and lesser proportional stoutness than 
this, I consider as unfit for judicious removal, in exposed 
situations, and destitute of proper stamina to resist the 
elements. To this injunction I may add, that in the 
above, as in every case, we should labour to acquire, by 
observation and study, a knowledge of that nice and 
adequate adaptation to circumstances of the protecting 
properties, which nature displays in her more or less open 
dispositions of wood, and learn to follow her provident 
example. All that the best preceptive efibrts can do is, 
to point out and illustrate the principle in its general 
bearings : it is judgment and experience only that can 
give the practice. 

1 



SECTION VI. 



PEEPARATION OF THE SOIL FOR OPEN DISPOSITIONS OF TREES 
# AND CLOSE PLANTATIONS. 

Haying sufficiently illustrated the new theory sug- 
gested for transplantation, the first branch of practice 
that claims attention is the preparation of the soil. 

The substances which constitute soils, as Sir H. Dayy 
states, are certain compounds of the earths, — silica, lime, 
alumina, magnesia^ — and of oxides of iron and manganesum ; 
also animal and vegetable matters in a decomposing state ; 
and saline, acid, or alkaline combinations.'" Soils afford 
to plants a fixed abode, and the medium only of their 
nourishment. Earths, exclusively of organised matter 
and water, as the best phytologists admit, are of no other 
use to woody plants than to fix them in the ground and 
support them : they act merely as mechanical, or as 
chemical agents : but earth and organic matter united 
constitute what is properly called soils, and furnish to 
plants at once support and nourishment. The true food 
of plants, as the same instructive writer observes, is water 
and decomposing organic matter. The earthy particles 
are useful in retaining the water, so as to supply it in 
due proportions to the roots of vegetables ; and they 
likewise act in producing a proper distribution of the 



* Elements of Agricultural Chemistry. 



130 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



animal or vegetable matter. When equally mixed with 
it, they prevent it from too rapid a decomposition ; and 
they also supply the soluble parts in their due proportions. 

Kirwan, in his Geological Essays, has shown that the 
fertility of a soil in a great measure depends on its 
capacity to retain water. The power of the soil to 
absorb water by cohesive attraction depends, in a con- 
siderable degree, on the division of its parts. The more 
these are divided, the greater their absorbent power. 
Hence the great importance of friability or looseness of 
texture, so that moisture may have free access to the 
fibres of the roots, that heat may be readily conveyed to 
them, and that evaporation may proceed without obstruc- 
tion. These benefits are usually attained by the presence 
of sand. As alumina possesses, in an eminent degree, all 
the powers of adhesiveness, and silex those of friability, it 
is obvious that a mixture of those earths, in suitable pro- 
portions, would furnish every thing that could be wanted 
in the most perfect soil. In a soil so constituted, water 
would be presented to the roots by capillary attraction. 
It would be suspended in it, says Griesenthwaite, in the 
same way as in a sponge, that is, in a state not of aggre- 
gation, but of minute division, so that every part might 
be moist but not wet.*^ Hence the best soil, whether for 
wood or agricultural crops, obviously is one that is at 
once loose and deep, containing the most alumina and 
carbonate of lime, so as to act with the greatest chemical 
energy in the preservation of manures. f 

Trees, far more than agricultural crops, require depth 
of soil to raise them to perfection : the eff'ect of climate 
appears much less necessary in giving them their greatest 
magnitude. Accordingly, notwithstanding the insularity 



* New Theory of Agriculture. 



t Note I. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



131 



of our situation, which naturally tends to the equalisation 
of climates, little park timber is found in Scotland, or the 
north of England, approaching in size and grandeur to 
the great trees in the midland and southern counties, 
owing probably to the superior soil which exists in the 
latter districts. Of these the Swilcar, Shelton, Ohandos, 
and Fredville Oaks, the Tortworth, Burleigh, and Cobham 
Chestnuts, the Chipstead and Tutbury Elms, the A¥oburn 
Ash, the Knowle Beech, and the Cobham Lime and 
Sycamore are eminent examples, as may be seen in Mr 
Sturt's late elegant dehneations."'" A more powerful 
delineator than Sturt says, of the King's Oak at Blen- 
heim, that " although scathed and gnarled in its branches, 
the immense trunk still showed to what gigantic size the 
monarch of the forest can attain in the groves of merry 
England.''! As it appears plain, from these and other 
instances, both in the north and south, that the size of 
wood will be mainly in proportion to the depth of the 
soil on which it grows, it should be the chief study of the 
planter to promote that capital object. It is a sound 
maxim, as old as Theophrastus, and repeated by Columella 
and Pliny, as familiar to the Roman husbandman, to 
transfer no tree to a worse soil than that in which it had 
previously stood ;| and whatever in this respect holds 
true of young plants, must d fortiori hold more decidedly 
true of large subjects, such as are intended for removal. 
If in transplanting we must often increase the cold, and 
other circumstances adverse to trees, it becomes us the 
more diligently to study that the soil be rendered as rich 

* See Sturt's elegant Portraits of British Forest TreeS; with respectable 
letterpress description. Lond. 1826. 

t Sir Walter Scott, Woodstock, vol. i. p. 68. 
X Note II. 



132 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



and deep as possible, in order in some sort to counter- 
balance those disadvantages. 

There are few persons so happily situated as to be 
able to command much animal or vegetable manure for 
the use of trees. Such artificial modes of enrichment or 
improvement must therefore be resorted to as science or 
experience has pointed out. By following such guides 
we may often learn so to alter the constituent parts of 
soils as to increase their fertility, by the addition of 
ingredients in which they are deficient, and in some 
cases by the subtraction of such as too copiously abound 
in them ; or else by effecting chemical changes of some 
constituent part by incineration, or by the application 
of mineral manures. Soils, considered as agents of 
vegetable culture, are subjected to operations which effbct 
changes on them either mechanically or chemically. Of 
the former description there are none so important for 
the use of trees as deepening and pulverising. Deepening 
can be executed with effect only by trenching or double- 
digging, (for the plough can do little in such a business,) 
and pulverising is naturally combined with that process. 
The depth of pulverisation, as Sir H. Davy well observes, 
must depend on the nature of the soil and subsoil. In 
rich clayey soils it can scarcely be too deep ; and even in 
sands, unless the subsoil contain some principle noxious 
to vegetables, deep comminution should be practised. 
When the roots are deep, they are less liable to be 
injured by excessive rain or excessive drought, and the 
radicles are shot forth into every part of the soil.''^- In 
a word, nothing but water stagnating under the trench in 
consequence of a clayey bottom, and the risk of the roots 



* Elements of Agricultural Chemistry. 



THE PLANTER S GUIDE. 



133 



being thereby chilled, should prevent trenching from 
being always executed as deep as possible. 

The surprising changes worked on all soils, in conse- 
quence of a minute comminution of their parts, and the 
various ways in which it increases fertihty, have only of 
late years been communicated to agriculture, by chemical 
analysis and investigation ; so that there is the less 
wonder that they should, in a great measure, have escaped 
the planter's notice. If the process be important in 
general to woody plants, it must be greatly more impor- 
tant to subjects meant for removal ; and I earnestly 
request the reader's attention, while I take a rapid view 
of it. 

Pulverisation, or the mechanical division of parts, is 
applicable to all soils in proportion to their adhesive 
textm^e ; as even the most silicious, if not duly stirred, 
will become too compact and dense for the admission of 
air, rain, and heat, and by consequence, for the free growth 
of plants. Strong upland clays, not submitted to the 
plough or the spade, will in a few years be found in the 
possession of fibrous-rooted perennial grasses, which form 
a clothing on their surface, or of strong taprooted trees 
such as the Oak, which force their way through the in- 
terior of the mass. For these reasons, the first and great 
object should be to give scope to the young roots and 
fibres ; because, without fibres in abundance, no woody 
plant can shoot freely, and develop its parts, whatever 
be the richness of the soil. The fibrous roots, as has been 
shown in Section IV., absorb the juices by means of in- 
trosusception ; but the quantity absorbed does not depend 
alone on the quantity existing in the soil, but on the 
number of the absorbing fibres. The more we can com- 
minuate the soil, the more those fibres will be increased, 



134 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



the more this nourisliinent will be absorbed, and the more 
vigorous and healthy the plant will become. 

Further, comminution of parts increases capillary 
attraction, or the sponge-like property of soils, by which 
their humidity is rendered more uniform and more effective. 
It is evident that, where the particles of earth are the 
most minutely divided, capillary attraction must be the 
greatest ; for gravels and sands hardly retain water, while 
clays not opened by pulverisation either do not absorb 
water at all, or, when by long action it is absorbed in a 
superabundant quantity, it is not readily discharged. 
Water is necessary to the growth of plants : it is essential 
to the juices or extract of the vegetable matter which they 
contain ; and unless the soil, by means of comminution, be 
fitted to retain the quantity of water requisite to produce 
those juices, the addition of manure will be useless. 
Manure is ineffectual towards vegetation until it become 
soluble in water, and it would remain useless in a state 
of solution if it so abounded as utterly to exclude air ; 
for in that case the fibres or mouths of plants would be 
unable to perform their functions, and they would soon 
drop off by decay. 

The temperature of soils, which few planters take into 
their consideration, is singularly improved by their being 
pulverised. Earths, as Griesenthwaite remarks, are among 
the worst conductors of heat which we know ; consequent- 
ly it would require a considerable time ere the gradually 
increasing temperature of spring could communicate its 
genial warmth to the roots of plants, if their lower parts 
were not heated by other means. To remove this defect, 
which always belongs to a close or dense soil, it is essen- 
tially necessary to have the land open, so that there may be 
a free ingress to the genial air and tepid rains of spring. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



135 



Water , moreover, is known to be a condenser and solvent 
of carbonic acid gas, which, when the ground is open, can 
be carried immediately to the roots of vegetables, and 
probably contributes to their growth. But if the land be 
close, and the water lie on or near the surface, then the 
carbonic acid gas, which always exists in the atmosphere, 
and is carried down by the rains, will soon be dissipated. 
Let it be observed also that an open soil, besides being 
favourable to the transmission of nutriment to the roots 
of plants, is likewise favourable to their extension, and 
thereby enlarges the field whence nutriment is derived. 
Nor are these the only benefits resulting from a friable 
soil : for, in addition to its being the best adapted to supply 
vegetables with food, it is always most suitable for effect- 
ing those changes in the manure itself which are equally 
necessary to the preparation of such food ; and animal 
and vegetable substances, exposed to the alternate action 
of heat, moisture, light, and air, undergo spontaneous 
decompositions, which independently of it would not take 
place. 

Soils are surprisingly benefited by aeration, and the free 
admission of the weather into their interior parts. This 
is generally considered as the principal use of fallowing ; 
and its importance in gardening is proved by compost 
heaps, and both winter and summer ridging up. The 
precise advantages, however, of exposure to the air, inde- 
pendently of the concurrent influence of water, heat, and 
the other eflPects above mentioned as resulting from pul- 
verisation, do not seem at present to be fully ascertained. 
It is admitted on all hands that carbonic acid gas is 
absorbed by calcareous earths ; and Dr Thomson, who is 
among the ablest of our chemical writers, is of opinion 
that the earths alone may thus, in all likelihood, administer 
food to plants. Sir H. Davy seems to consider mere 



136 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



exposure to the atmospliere as of no benefit whatever to 
soils ; he therefore condemns fallowing as useless and 
unprofitable. But the reasons given for such an opinion 
are merely speculative, and founded on nothing experr 
mental or conclusive ; accordingly, they will convince no 
skilful agriculturist, nor no practical planter. 

To these facts and observations we may add a sugges- 
tion of Darwin's respecting temperature, which, though 
fanciful, is ingenious — namely, that a certain portion of 
atmospheric air being always taken down into the soil, at 
the time of pulverisation, its internal heat is thereby pro- 
moted, and its fertility increased. The confinement of the 
air occasions decomposition, by means of the moisture in 
the earthy portions. Ammonia is formed by the union 
of the hydrogen of the water with the nitrogen of the 
atmosphere, and nitre by the union of oxygen and nit- 
rogen. The oxygen likewise probably unites with the 
carbon contained in the soil, and forms carbonic acid gas 
and carburetted hydrogen. Hence the heat given out 
during these processes.'" 

Such is a short and very imperfect view of the manifold 
beneficial changes which deepening and pulverising effect 
in soils, according to the ingenious researches of Davy, 
Thomson, Griesenthwaite, and others, who have usefully 
laboured to render chemical researches subservient to rural 
purposes. Had Tull, who flourished about a century ago, 
been acquainted with chemistry as at present improved, 
he would not have missed that permanent fame to which 
his ingenuity so well entitled him. Tull was unquestion- 
ably the first practical advocate for the power of pulverisa- 
tion ; but he was deceived by its astonishing and various 
effects, without being able to perceive its limits. Hence 



Phytologia, Sect. XII. 1. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



137 



he was led into the erroneous belief that pulyerisation 
could even supply the place of manures in farm manage- 
ment. Modern science, however, would have enabled 
him to discover, that although the comminuating of soils 
incredibly multiplies the fibrous roots, or mouths of plants ; 
although it also facilitates the speedy and perfect prepara- 
tion of their food, and conducts the food so prepared 
more regularly to the roots, yet of food itself it does not 
communicate the smallest supply or portion beyond what 
the soil actually possesses. As we cannot in these times 
fall into the error of TuU, let us not omit, for our present 
purpose, to put a due value on pulverisation, (which in 
husbandry of late, as connected with deepening, seems to 
be rather undervalued,) while we endeavour, by the methods 
already pointed out, to add as much as possible to the 
vigour and food of woody plants. 

Soils, then, may be most effectually improved by the 
planter by altering their constituent parts, as has been above 
shown, either by the addition of ingredients in which 
they are deficient, or by the subtraction of others that too 
much abound in them ; but in ordinary cases chiefly in 
the former way, by admixture with other soils, and by the 
application of mineral manures. The best natural soils 
are certainly those of which the materials have been 
derived from diff'erent strata, that have been minutely 
divided by air and water, and are intimately blended 
together. On this account, in improving soils by artificial 
methods, the husbandman or the arboriculturist cannot 
steer in so safe a course as by studying the effects of 
intermixture, and imitating the chemistry of nature. 

In preparing soils on these principles, for the removal 
of trees, the materials cannot often lie at a distance. In 
this quarter of the island there is no man, possessing 
grounds of any extent, who has not the command of more 



138 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



than one sort of soil, especially in the mineral districts. 
In the park here three different species are found, namely, 
tenacious clay, strong loam, and light sand ; and, fortu- 
nately, also peat-moss in abundance near at hand. My 
practice, therefore, has been diligently to collect and make 
up masses or heaps of compost in different parts of the 
grounds, adjacent to where the trees might be wanted, 
and to have them always ready for use, of not fess than 
six months old. These masses are compounded usually 
in the following manner : first, quicklime recently burnt 
(called in Scotland " lime-shells") with clayey matter 
for the light land ; secondly, mild lime with sandy soil 
for the aluminous ; and thirdly, quicklime with peat- 
moss for the loamy. To each of the two soils first men- 
tioned I usually give an addition of about a third part of 
the peat compost ; and by procuring the peat in rather 
an advanced state of decomposition, its speedy prepa- 
ration is more easily brought about. 

In this way, I conceive, I have succeeded, with the 
least possible expense of manure and labour, in preparing 
materials for improving the different soils for the recep- 
tion of the fibrous roots of trees. The clay compost, by 
means of the lime, being brought into a state of decom- 
position, surprisingly improves the silicious soil by giving 
it greater consistency, in the same way that the same soil 
is benefited by marl or calcareous matter. The sand 
compost, in like manner, still more powerfully acts on the 
aluminous soil. As all soils are meliorated by lime, that 
do not effervesce with acids, and sands most remarkably, 
so the hard and adhesive qualities of the clay are sub- 
dued by the action of the sand and lime united, its parts 
are comminuated, and the inert vegetable matter is 
brought into operation. The peat compost, for similar 
reasons, and by means of the lime which it contains, is 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



139 



well calculated to stimulate, and add vegetable matter to 
the loamy soil. 

But the peat compost, for general application to all 
soils, I have found the most extensively useful of the 
whole, if prepared with a third part of animal manure or 
fresh farm-yard dung, according to the fermenting process 
discovered by the late Lord Meadowbank, whose memory 
will be immortal with both the husbandman and the 
arboriculturist. For thin gravelly soil, where a consider- 
able quantity of carbonaceous matter is required to supply 
its wants, this compost, if properly made, will be found 
even preferable to ordinary animal manure, as containing 
much more carbon and continuing its action longer on the 
ground. Even when prepared with quicklime only 
recently burnt and slacked, that is, hydrate of lime — one 
fifth part of lime to four-fifths of peat — it is extremely 
valuable from its loose and friable properties, and the fine 
state of comminution to which it may be readily brought. 
Quicklime when it becomes mild operates in the same 
way as chalk, but in the act of becoming mild it has the 
power of preparing soluble out of insoluble matter. 
Hence its great efiect on peat, and on all soils containing 
an excess of vegetable insoluble matter. But for peat 
compost of either species to operate fully in preparing 
the soil for the fibrous roots of plants, it should be mixed 
in the ground for at least a twelvemonth before the trees 
are removed; so that, on opening the pits for the second 
time, it shall have nearly disappeared, in consequence of 
its complete and perfect incorporation with the soil. 

This last method of decomposing peat we owe to a 
very ingenious and scientific nobleman, the Earl of Dun- 
donald, whose memory will also be long held in grateful 
remembrance by his countrymen. This distinguished 
chemist was the first writer who, nearly half a century 



140 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



ago, pointed out the means of rendering agriculture a new 
art by the aid of chemistry, in which he has been since 
followed by Kirwan, by Sir H. Davy, and other ingenious 
authors. The general error then and still committed, in 
the making up of lime compost, is the use of the lime in 
far too great a proportion, thereby reducing the peat to 
charcoal, and dissipating in a gaseous state its most useful 
component parts. Thus the lime is rendered nearly 
effete and powerless, and brought back to the state of 
mere chalk, instead of forming such a combination with 
the peat, and the gas generated in the process, as, on 
being apphed to the soil, should promote the growth of 
plants. 

In the same way, a want of success not less remark- 
able has been experienced in preparing dung compost 
according to the fermenting process discovered by Lord 
Meadowbank. This, I conceive, has proceeded chiefly 
from two causes : first, the want of skill in providing peat 
of a proper quality, and in a state fitted to undergo the 
fermenting process with effect ; and secondly, in applying 
the dung in too exhausted a condition — both of which 
tend to prevent the antiseptic qualities of the moss from 
being counteracted, and the peat from being rendered 
soluble. For the methods which have been suggested by 
experience, for the improvement of both these valuable 
composts, the agricultural reader, as well as the planter, is 
referred to the notes, which may probably be found inte- 
resting to both.'" 

There is one circumstance which deserves particular 
attention in preparing this valuable compost. It is 
observable in the southern as well as in the northern 
division of the island, that peat-moss is found of very 



Note III. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



141 



different qualities, and has frequently some portion of iron 
combined with it united with sulphuric acid. This is a 
mixture which, in excess, is pernicious to vegetation and 
to the growth of woody plants. It therefore becomes 
necessary to destroy or neutralise it by admixture with 
other substances. The respectable Judge above men- 
tioned says that aU his peat at Meadowbank was so con- 
taminated. Some part of the peat at this place is 
unfortunately of the same species, and many of my crops 
as w^ell as trees were injured by it before the cause was 
discovered. When the peat is taken from the pit, and 
laid out to dry in the heap, the sulphate of iron is easily 
distinguished by an efflorescence of small white crystals of 
an astringent taste appearing on the surface, and also a 
strong sulphureous smell on its being burnt, or exposed to 
the rays of the sun. 

The remedy suggested by the learned judge I have 
found perfectly effectual, in attenuating or counteracting 
these pernicious ingredients, namely, to add to the dung- 
hiU or compost, in preparing it for fermentation, a certain 
proportion of coal, wood, or peat ashes, he says, a twenty- 
eighth part ; or, in default of these, half the quantity of 
slacked lime. Lime is the substance which has been 
used here, but in a rather larger proportion than that 
which Lord Meadowbank recommends.'" It gives me, 
however, particular satisfaction to find, that I am borne 
out in my partiality to peat compost, as a general and 
useful manure, by the practice as well as the opinion of a 
writer who was himself a skilful planter, and a chemist 
of considerable experience. 

The transplanting of large trees and underwood is 
practised for two different purposes : first, for procuring 

* Direction!? for preparing Manure from Peat, p. 33. 



142 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



single trees, and open dispositions of wood in the park ; 
and secondly, for raising at once close woods or planta- 
tions for shelter or ornament. Hence the preparation of 
the soil is to be considered in reference to those two sepa- 
rate purposes or heads, which shall be examined in their 
order. And here, as in many instances which occur 
in the sequel, I entertain great doubt of being able to 
make myself distinctly understood. It is one thing to be 
acquainted with a series of daily practices and manual 
operations, and another to render a minute detail of 
them, of their causes and consequences, and various appli- 
cations, intelligible to the reader. Language, from its 
nature, often treats more clearly of abstract ideas and 
general truths than of sensible or material objects ; and 
there are processes in all arts which a single glance of 
the eye will more fully explain than whole pages of 
description. On this account I stand greatly in need of 
the indulgence of the reader; and I shall endeavour to 
deserve it by studying perspicuity in the delineations 
which are to follow in this and other sections, and con- 
ciseness also, in as far as the peculiarities of a new subject 
will admit. 

First, then, as to the preparation of the soil for single 
trees and open dispositions of wood. It has been said 
above, that no trees of magnitude can be raised without 
very considerable depth of soil. No tree transplanted 
should have less than from eighteen inches to two feet 
deep of mould, prepared and enriched according to the 
above principles, to some distance round the plant. If 
park-planting be intended, the first thing to be done is, to 
mark out with stakes the site or position of the single 
and scattered trees, or groups of two, three, or more — a 
work of no small nicety and difficulty in any case, and 
which, where the prominent parts of a place are con- 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



cerned, cannot be trusted to inferior hands. Here an art 
is in requisition of a far higher and more difficult class 
than the mere planting of trees — I mean the art of design- 
ing real landscape, or landscape composed of nature's own 
materials; for as these open or loose dispositions of 
wood form often the principal features of the picture or 
its accessories, to disperse them with skill and effect 
implies no mean acquaintance with this superior art. 

As single trees, in respect to site, are wholly unconnected 
with one another, the pits for them are to be made sepa- 
rately. For this purpose the ground, supposing it to be 
tolerably rich and deep, with a porous subsoil, (that is, a 
subsoil of sand, gravel, or rock, or combinations of them,) 
is to be trenched to the depth of nearly two feet, which 
depth is six inches more than common gardeners' trench- 
ing. The latter is usually executed two spits deep, with 
two intermediate shovellings ; but in the work in question 
we should go down between three and four spits, without 
any shovellings. The method last mentioned tends to 
increase pulverisation, and especially a more general inter- 
mixture of the different portions of the soil, without in- 
creasing the expense of the work.*^' For a pit of this 
description two, or at most three, cart-loads of the proper 
compost are sufficient, (I mean single carts, or carts drawn 
by one horse,) if mixed according to the principles above 
laid down. If the soil be sandy or gravelly, the clay 
compost should be used ; if clayey, the sand compost, 
with the addition of one-third part of the peat or general 
compost, which, as said above, is applicable to all soils. 
Should the soil be deep and loamy, the last mentioned is 
probably the compost best suited to divide into parts the 
fresh mould brought up, and to excite a general chemical 
action throughout the mass. 

* Note IV. 



144 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



In executing the trenching, if the pit be to stand for a 
twelvemonth or more before transplanting, the compost is 
to be laid down in half-loads round the stake which marks 
out the site of the pit, and at such a distance as not 
to obstruct the workmen. The dimensions are then to be 
marked out for middle-sized trees, of from five-^nd-twentj 
to eight-and-twenty feet high, in a circular form, and at 
two " spades" and a half distant from the stake, or about 
eighteen feet diameter. This is the mode of measuring 
usual among our workmen ; the spade being that superior 
and efficient implement, about three feet eight inches long, 
called the " Scotch spade," with an iron handle at the 
upper end of the shaft, and not the common garden 
spade, which is of little use, except for stirring loose 
mould. 

Supposing the subsoil to be sand or gravel, and of 
a sufficient depth to admit of the pit prescribed, the next 
thing to be done is, to wheel away from the side at which 
you are to begin as much earth as will close in the last 
trench, and to lay it down for the purpose on the opposite 
side of the pit. The compost being of two kinds, clayey 
and peaty, as already described, should be dashed on, or 
scattered like lime upon a field, as the trenching proceeds, 
over the entire surface of the work, so as to mix the whole 
in the completest manner ; and when the trench is closed 
in at the farther side, it should lie for a twelvemonth, as 
before stated. 

Supposing, on the other hand, that the soil be deficient 
in the competent depth, (a thing which has unfortunately 
too often happened at this place,) there is no remedy but 
to supply the want with earth brought from some other 
quarter. A few cart-loads are all that in most instances 
are required; and a little practice will teach the planter 
to procure it from the cleanings of drains or ditches, from 



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145 



natural hollows in woods, and such like places, where cal- 
careous earth is sure to be collected. The best way is to 
take it out in strips or lines of only one spit wide and 
of the same depth; by which means no material injury 
^nll be done to the ground by the operation. 

In supplying such earth, let it be remembered that 
rich mould is not essentially necessary, and that soil even 
of a very inferior quality will answer the purpose. Every 
one must have observed the readiness with which the 
roots of trees find their way into a mound of earth of any 
quality whatever that has been stirred, and consequently 
comminuated, by being forced up beyond the natural 
level of the surface — a fact which demonstrates in a 
striking manner the justness of the principle, that to 
render any soil pervious to air and water, and to render 
it fertile, are almost synonymous terms. With a mass of 
earth so prepared, and to between eighteen inches and 
two feet out beyond the length of the roots, both roots 
and branches will soon be stimulated to greater multipli- 
city and more vigorous extension ; and the former may be 
then safely trusted to seek food for themselves over the 
natural surface of the ground. Should a still greater 
range of pabulum or of deepened soil be requisite for 
particular trees, it will be easy to provide it after the 
trees are transplanted ; as such masses of earth as these 
pits contain can be extended at pleasure, and both the 
shape and the quality of the ground at the same time be 
improved. 

Supposing the soil and subsoil to be clayey and tena- 
cious, particular caution must be observed, in trenching, to 
leave the substratum untouched ; and the safest method in 
all cases is, to penetrate no deeper than the improved and 
friable mould extends, which is always permeable by 
moisture. But should the workmen unfortunately, through 

K 



146 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



ignorance or inattention, penetrate such a subsoil, a pool 
of water would be formed by tlie first rains tliat fell, of 
the size of the pit, where, being held as in a cup, the 
roots of the tree would be chilled on its removal, and the 
tree itself probably killed in the first season. 

Supposing further, that from necessity, or perhaps from 
- choice, the planter cannot wait the prescribed space of a 
twelyemonth for the most propitious time for removal, 
and will be content with a less perfect comminution, and 
a less intimate incorporation of the materials, let him 
proceed as follows. Having marked out the pit and its 
dimensions, and laid the compost, or extra earth, or both, 
as the case may be, six feet out from the centre, let the 
workmen in the first place, spade the whole into the 
centre at the stake, and, mixing it as much as possible by 
that operation, form a high and narrow heap round the 
stake. Let them next open the pit to the depth wanted, 
as before noticed ; but instead of trenching or double- 
digging, they must turn out the contents to the outside 
edges ; throwing over for every stratum of a spit deep, a 
corresponding stratum of the mixed mass from the centre, 
till the pit is thus excavated to the proper depth. As 
soon as the stake is driven down, the workmen begin, 
each at a diff*erent part of the mound thrown out, and 
work round the pit, so as to give a sort of half-trenching 
or turning over to the mound, by tossing it to and fro 
throughout its whole extent. The contents being in the 
loosest possible state, this can be done with great rapidity ; 
and when the workmen meet in the half-trenching the 
business is completed. The pit is then ready for the 
immediate planting of the tree. Thus the greatest com- 
minution of these mingled ingredients is obtained with 
the least labour, and by only once throwing out ; but the 
most intimate mixture is absolutely necessary. It is true 



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147 



that the process, however compendious, is an imperfect 
succedaneum to the slower maceration or preparation by 
nature; but an entire year is saved by adopting this 
method, which at times may be of consequence to the 
owner of a place, while there are not perhaps many 
gardeners who can boast of their hothouse mould being 
of a texture more perfect than that which has been pro- 
duced by it. 

Next, as to groups and larger masses. By a group of 
trees is to be understood any number from two (which is 
the smallest group) to ten, or more, in the lawn or park, 
intended for some particular effect. As the distances 
between the trees are generally from sixteen to twenty 
feet, according to the ground, it is obvious that, after 
trenching as many large spaces or circles as there are 
trees in the group, not more than a third part of the 
whole space or area occupied will remain solid or un- 
touched between the circles. In all cases of this sort 1 
should much recommend that the entire area^ comprising 
all the trees of the group, be trenched at once, and reach- 
ing to at least five yards beyond the stakes which mark 
the outside plants. Thus the labour of wheeling earth to 
close in the work at each particular space or circle is 
saved, and a much wider range given to the roots to 
extend freely. In fact, the number of additional or extra 
poles of ground to be turned over is trifling, whilst a con- 
siderable saving is made in the lesser depth of the trench 
required, particularly on stiff land, and a great additional 
value conferred on the ground itself. 

There is no soil of which the produce, whether in 
grain-crops or in pasture, will not be increased by the one 
half, in consequence of such stirring and deepening ; and 
there are many soils, those of a thin quality in particular, 
on which these processes will double the proclme,. if the 



148 



THE PLANTBli's GUIDE. 



new earth brouglit up be properly pulverised, and manured 
with compost. Besides, from poor clays, and lands in- 
clined to moisture, it will banish Rushes effectually, (if 
Rushes be produced by surface causes,) — one of the most 
troublesome weeds which we have to eradicate. It is 
unnecessary to pursue the subject further in this place, 
although it has hitherto attracted no general notice. But 
as it rises greatly in the scale of interest and consequence 
from its importance to both husbandry and arboriculture, 
it may be worth while to give the details and explanations 
in a note below, to which I refer the inquisitive reader.'" 

In trenching entire spaces or areas for groups, more- 
over, two important savings are made in the execution of 
the work. First, in the trenching itself — as not more 
than eighteen inches are necessary for the deepening a 
light soil, and for one that is heavy not more than twenty 
inches. This saving obviously results from the far greater 
and more uniform scope that is given for the elongation 
of the roots, on a space of ground of such increased mag- 
nitude. The second saving is, that on such a space it is 
very seldom that any extra earth can be wanted, in order 
to supply a deficiency of soil, as must sometimes happen 
with single trees. On clayey land you may freely go 
down, and procure the depth required ; because no water 
can stagnate where there is no pit to hold it, but where 
the entire bottom of the space or area trenched is worked 
to a uniform level, that is, a slope-level, so as to carry off 
the water collected from the surface ; and hence the great 
excellence of deep trenching in every case. The only 
case which can require an aid of extra earth to the soil 
is where pure sand or gravel, as on small eminences, rises 
nearly to the surface, and where there is next to nothing 
to form the nourishment of plants. ^ 

* Note V. 



THE TLANTEE'S guide. 



149 



During the trenching of the spaces, it is advisable to 
giA^e the work a good dressing of compost, of a quality 
directly opposite to the quality of the soil, and to be 
dashed on thinly and frequently over the face or front of 
the new earth thrown up. If this be abundantly done, 
one extra cart-load of compost (I mean a single cart) for 
each tree is sufficient, not omitting a third part more of 
the peaty or general compost, to finish the preparation. 
The inexperienced planter may rely upon it, that there is 
no improvement more certain than this of trenching at 
once the whole area which a group comprises, instead of 
the preparation of pits for individual trees. It is not 
always that the best style of work proves the cheapest in 
the beginning, however it may in general turn out in the 
end. But in the present instance, the most perfect 
economy is united with the most perfect efficiency, and 
the success of the trees and the improvement of the 
ground are equally consulted. 

It is to be noticed that the work of preparation, in 
every situation where it is convenient, should be done a 
year at least before the removal of the trees. This is a 
maxim fully as important and deserving of consideration 
as any one that has been delivered in the present section. 
Although somewhat may be lost in missing the carbonic 
acid gas, and the genial influence of the atmosphere, 
which are introduced during the work in order to excite 
vegetation, yet a superior object is gained by a fuller 
incorporation of the compost with the soil, during the 
renewed comminution of the whole when the planting 
takes place. No doubt an excellent soil, as has been 
already seen, may be obtained at the moment, and under 
the pressure of circumstances, by ingenuity and skill. 
But it will be found by experience that there is no case 
in which a little time and patience is better laid out than 



150 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



in the present, as may be proved by the relative progress 
of trees that have been planted in the one way and in the 
other. I can speak from repeated experience as to the 
fact dming the last twenty years, when, from haste or 
impatience, or other motive, I have been induced to sacri- 
fice science to convenience, and to work the pits and 
remove the trees at one and the same time. On one and 
all of those occasions I felt, as in many other things, that 
1 was following the worse course, with the better all the 
while before mj eyes. 

In planting new approaches, in wooding the banks of 
lakes or rivers, by means of the transplanting machine ; 
in giving additional woody features to grounds near the 
mansion-house ; and in a word, wherever numerous groups 
or scattered trees are wanted for immediate effect, I 
earnestly recommend this method to be followed. In an 
approach, for example, fifty or sixty yards broad, or more, 
as circumstances may require, should be trenched and 
prepared as above, on each side the carriage-way ; and 
a similar space on the bank of a lake or river. In any 
less space there would not be room to group and scatter 
the trees with a due regard to landscape effect. As to 
tlie returning of the ground to grass, although the rest 
of the park be in pasture at the time, it is not a very for- 
midable task. It may be fenced with hurdles for three 
months, after being properly dressed, and sown down with 
grass-seeds, if the space or area of the ground trenched be 
large ; and if it be trifling, it needs not to be fenced at 
all where sheep are the stock upon the ground. The 
superior chance which is by this system given to trees to 
rise speedily to great timber, and the increased facility to 
the work of removal, ought to be sufficient inducements to 
the owner of a place, particularly in new designs, to adopt 
the system. But when it is considered that the extra 



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151 



expense of trenching an acre, or two acres at once, for 
these objects, is repaid more than twofold by the additional 
yearly value of the ground, there must be gain rather 
than loss by following the culture recommended. 

We now come to the second head, namely, close woods 
and plantations. Close plantations raised by means of 
the transplanting machine may be desirable, whether at 
old places or new, for various purposes where the imme- 
diate effect of wood is wanted : for concealing objects, 
for example, that require concealment ; for adding 
features to the foreground of the landscape ; or for giving 
accompaniments to water and the like. These planta- 
tions consist of standard or grove wood, at from eighteen 
to twenty feet from tree to tree, with copse or underwood 
at five or six feet occupying the intervals. 

When the plantation is marked out, the first thing to 
be done is, soon after the autumn, to trench or double -dig 
the ground eighteen inches deep, in light or silicious soils, 
and twenty inches at least in clayey or aluminous. 
During the course of the trenching, if a manuring of com- 
post can be spared, it is an obvious improvement to dash 
it on, over the slope of the earth thrown up, in order to 
promote a comminution of, and to give an incitement to, 
the new earth, which had never before been exposed to 
the air. But that is not essentially necessary in this 
stage of the business. 

By the month of April the winter frosts will have 
mellowed and made friable the new soil, especially if 
aluminous ; which greatly assists the pulverisation or 
comminution of its parts. The ground is next well 
dunged for a potato-crop with ordinary animal manure, 
or better, peat compost, made with farm-yard dung, 
according to the fermenting process of Lord Meadow- 
bank, and twice heated and turned. In default of com- 



152 



THE PLANTEE's GUIDE. 



post during the trenching, particularly if the subsoil be 
clay, it is advisable, soon after the potatoes are planted, to 
hoe into the drills as much slacked lime, in fine powder, 
as is generally used to a wheat crop — that is, about a 
hundred and fifty or sixty bushels per acre. This treat- 
ment surprisingly tends to comminuate the subsoil turned 
up ; it brings the hard or inert substances contained in it 
into a state of decomposition or solution, and renders 
them the proper food of plants. If the process be con- 
ducted with common judgment, the value of the potato-crop 
cannot be less than from £20 to £25 per Scotch acre, (I 
have myself drawn £30 under favourable circumstances;) 
and it fully pays the labour and manure laid out, and 
perhaps some rent besides. By the succeeding season 
the ground will be in a good condition to be planted, 
after which it should be kept with the hoe for three 
years. 

In so far, then, the mode of preparing the ground for 
close plantations is superior in point of economical 
arrangement to the preparation for open dispositions of 
wood, as it is clear that it may be prepared without 
expense to the ovmer. By the directions here given, the 
soil in the latter is more pulverised, and approaches, if 
well managed, to the state of fine dark-coloured mould, 
such as is used for a vinery, and superior to that of most 
vineries. In the former, what is deficient in fineness is 
often compensated by variety, and by the extensive scope 
which it gives to the roots to search for their food. 

On considering these various methods of improving 
soils for the use of woody plants, the great, and indeed 
paramount importance of subsoils cannot fail to strike the 
reader. In fact, the latter may be said, in a great 
measure, to command and render subordinate the actual 
properties of the former, rendering them favourable or 



THE planter's guide. 



153 



unfaYonrable according to their own peculiar character. 
The first question that is asked by a skilful planter, on 
surveying a place for the first time, is not respecting the 
soil, but the subsoil. If that be propitious, he is com- 
paratively indifferent as to the superincumbent strata. 
All soils are susceptible of melioration, from the most 
silicious to the most argillaceous. Their pernicious 
ingredients can often be modified, if they cannot be altered, 
as we have already seen ; but subsoils are the gift of 
nature, for evil or for good, and always lie beyond the 
reach of our improvement. In order that the reader may 
form a right judgment of both their favourable and un- 
favourable properties, for the growth of wood, the follow- 
ing short view is subjoined of the merits of both. 

The most favourable subsoils are those through which 
the excess of water received in rainy seasons is allowed 
slowly to percolate, and which retain moisture sufficient 
for the sustenance of plants. First, close-lying strata ; in 
which a considerable proportion of sand and fine gravel is 
intimately mixed. Secondly, free-stone ; provided a bed 
of hard and impermeable clay do not intervene between 
it and the soil, which sometimes happens. And thirdly, 
a kind of greenstone (Scottic^, rotten whin,) which is the 
most favourable of all, when there is over it a sufficient 
depth of mould, for the above purposes. Such, for example, 
are the soil and subsoil of that favourite tract of country 
at the foot of the Ochill and other hills in Stirlingshire 
and Perthshire, so well known for the growth of its timber. 
Here it descends in a gradual slope, from the hills towards 
the river Forth, both east and west of the town of Stirling, 
while the river slowly winds through the rich, but alluvial 
plain below. In this sort of subsoil the excess of the 
water collected from the sky and the heights above passes 
through the fissures, and is received and retained in its 



154 



THE PLANTEE's GUIDE. 



snbterraueous cavities ; by which means the rock, being 
always damp, and never exsiccated, can communicate its 
moisture to the soil above in seasons of drought. It is 
true, this rock sends out frequent springs from its internal 
reservoirs, to the surface : but they are often useful, 
instead of being pernicious ; and they may generally be 
carried off by drains of inconsiderable depth, if cut across 
the outcropping extremity of the rock. 

The subsoils of an unfavourable quality are, first, such 
as are composed of dense and argillaceous substances, 
through which no water can pass, it being retained stag- 
nant at the bottom of the soil. In this situation it has 
the most injurious effects, not only by chilling the roots 
that reach it, but by disabling the soil from exerting that 
sort of repulsive force which, as has been seen, is necessary 
to fertility. Secondly, those open beds of loose stones and 
sand, from the bottom of which water is readily drawn off 
by subterraneous outlets. These strata are sometimes 
continuous, but they offcener occur in narrow lines or strips ; 
they are named " scalds" by the Norfolk farmers, and are 
as injurious to crops in a wet as in a dry season. Thirdly, 
there may be added those extensive ranges or strata of 
dry rocks, of a hard texture, composed of slate, sometimes 
granite, but most commonly of gneiss, accompanied in 
some districts with a considerable proportion of iron, pro- 
bably in the state of orange oxide. These rocks run in 
long ridges through the districts where they lie, sometimes 
narrow, and sometimes of a considerable breadth. They 
are dry to a great breadth, and full of fissures, through 
which the water quickly passes. The orange oxide always 
appears in thin lamina among the fissures. As they are 
like the sandy bottoms, not retentive of water, all vegeta- 
tion is destroyed in dry seasons on the soils which cover 
them, and woods, were they planted there, would share 



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155 



the same fate. When these rocks are near the surface, 
the oxide with which they abound is generally injurious 
to vegetable life, and trees die as soon as their roots come 
in contact with it. Of these rocky strata the greater part 
of the Western Highlands and Islands of Scotland furnish 
remarkable examples, excluding of course, in most districts, 
the ingredient of iron. But it is from a want of soil, and 
not of climate, that woods of any given extent cannot be 
got up in those unsheltered but romantic regions. Nature 
is every where impartial in her gifts. Where wood abounds, 
the character of a district is often tame and uninteresting. 
Were the grand scenery of these " high -featured countries," 
their sublime mountains and blue lakes, crowned with the 
forests of the south, they would in point of picturesque 
beauty be the paradise of the earth. 

Happy, then, is the planter who has none of these dry 
rocks for his subsoil ; for it clearly appears that neither 
general planting nor removal of trees is possible, of what- 
ever size, where they are present. Still happier is he 
who, with clay and sand intermingled beneath his surface, 
or even with those untoward substances separately com- 
posing his soils, can by industry and skill prepare them 
for his purpose. But happiest certainly of all is the man 
who can boast the possession of that enviable greenstone 
or rotten whin, with the deep, friable, and dark-coloured 
mould of the 0 chills superincumbent on it ; for then he 
may plant or remove whatever trees he pleases, and with- 
out preparation either chemical or mechanical. 

In conclusion, I have to observe, that there is perhaps 
some reason to claim the indulgence of the general reader, 
for the seemingly elaborate manner in which I have been 
obliged to point out the chemical and scientific principles 
on which soils should be improved and rendered proper 
for the food of plants. It has been said above, and it 



156 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



cannot be too often repeated or too earnestly enforced, 
that it is hy principles drawn from nature, and elucidated 
bj science, that any real progress can be made in an art 
like the one under discussion, where nature and science 
must unite in regulating the process, and art must follow 
in the track which they prescribe. 



SECTION VII. 

PEEPARATION OF THE TREES FOR REMOVAL. 

It has been said above that the removal of large trees 
is applicable to two different objects, namely, single trees, 
or open dispositions of wood, and to close plantations ; 
which last consist of grove and underwood intermixed. 
Now, as the former much more frequently occur in practice 
than the latter, so transplanting may be generally said, as 
has been already noticed, to imply increased exposure. 

By the wise economy of nature, it has been provided 
that trees in open situations, in order to thrive, must 
possess certain external conditions which have been desig- 
nated the protecting properties. Therefore the principle 
of transplanting lies in adopting such subjects as possess 
those properties, wherever they can be found, and in com- 
municating them to others in which they may be deficient. 
It is obvious that trees endued with the protecting pro- 
perties or prerequisites require no preparation at aU ; and 
that those trees which possess them partially or inade- 
quately require it precisely in the ratio or degree of that 
inadequate possession. Further, it is apparent, as these 
properties must be either protecting or non-protecting, or 
a modification of the one or the other, so the complete 
presence of the one class of properties necessarily implies 
the absence of the other class. But both may neverthe- 
less exist at one and the same time in diflPerent parts of 
the same tree. For the purpose of removal, for example, 



158 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



sucli a plant may possess fibrous roots and spreading 
branches, (two of the protecting properties which are 
generally concomitant,) yet it may be deficient in both 
bark and stem. In like manner it may have desirable 
stem and bark, (two properties, likewise, which usually go 
together,) and yet fail in branches and roots. 

It is a great error to imagine with the early planters, 
and as is still done by many, that the business of pre- 
paration applies solely to roots. As well might it be 
imagined that the roots carry up the sap to the top ; 
tliat tliey elaborate it in the leaves ; that they transmit 
it to the stem and branches ; and, in a word, that this 
single organ performs ail the various functions which 
exist in a complicated system. When the ingenious 
Lord Fitzharding, as we learn from Evelyn, thought of 
cutting round the roots of trees in order to multiply their 
lateral fibres, it cannot be deemed surprising that he 
should have been unaware how small a part of the work 
of preparation he had eff'ected by that invention. But it 
is much more extraordinary that, during the many years 
that my practice has been open to general inspection, it 
should never occur to any one that its success did not 
depend merely on the roots, but must be governed by 
some general and fixed principles : for to this day, when 
the roots of trees are cut round, as is often done, they are 
said to be ''fully prepared according to my method;" 
while the planter who so prepares them does not suspect 
that he is merely fulfilling one of four conditions which 
are pointed out by that method. But perhaps it was 
not supposed that a process seemingly so simple as trans- 
planting appeared to be, in the hands of my workmen, 
required any principle at all to regulate it. 

It has been stated in a foregoing section, that the per- 
fect and internal development of woody plants is depen- 



THE PLANTEK's GUIDE. 



159 



dent on certain external conditions ; and that, when those 
conditions are imperfectly supplied, this development can- 
not take place. It has been further observed, that the 
most perfect development in all cases appears manifest 
where the protecting properties are most fully displayed. 
If these things be true, it will follow that to prepare trees 
for removal only means to allow nature, if I may so 
speak, to do her own work : and that we shall always 
best accomplish by clearing away those accidental 
obstacles and mechanical impediments which are some- 
times thrown in her way, as they obstruct and misdirect 
the simple but efficient methods which she employs 
towards the accomplishment of one of the most beautiful 
as well as complicated of her processes. The difficulty 
lies in administering to nature discreetly ; neither 
officiously directing her on the one hand, nor rudely con- 
trolling her on the other. 

The main obstacle or impediment to the acquisition of 
the protecting properties in trees is shelter and closeness, 
or the want of a sufficient action of the atmosphere 
around them. Vegetable, like animal life, is dependent 
for its existence on the external conditions of food, air, 
water, and heat, while light is a condition more peculiar 
to plants. Where trees, as in unthinned plantations, 
press too closely on one another, the range which the 
roots require for their food is circumscribed. Wind being 
in a great degree excluded, and evaporation prevented, 
heat is by consequence generated in an undue degree. 
In the same way, light is nearly shut out from such 
plantations, except from the top, and a disproportioned 
elongation of the stem is occasioned by the efforts which 
each individual makes to gain the light. By these means 
the bark becomes thinner and more delicate, the roots 
more scanty, and the spray and branches more open and 



160 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



sparing than when there is a greater action of the atmo- 
sphere and a freeer access of light. Thus, by the law of 
nature by which trees accommodate themselves to the 
circumstances in which they are placed, as the possession 
of the non-protecting properties does not constitute the 
most natural or most perfect state of trees, but is 
superinduced by circumstances, so that state must be 
improved by the alteration of such circumstances, and the 
possession of the opposite or protecting properties be sub- 
stituted in its stead. The planter, therefore, in ordinary 
cases, if he act with judgment, has little more to do than 
to bring about a gradual, a salutary, and in the end a 
free exposure of trees to the elements, and their own 
native energies and plastic powers will do every thing 
else for themselves. 

Having explained as distinctly as I can the true prin- 
ciple on which the preparation of trees should be made, I 
will now proceed to point out the practice. Subjects for 
removal may be prepared in two different ways, or more 
properly speaking, in two different classes, namely, as 
single trees, each independently of the other ; or as 
masses, especially trained and disciplined for the purpose. 

And first, as to single or individual trees. It has been 
already noticed that many trees stand in need of no pre- 
paration at all, but may immediately be taken up and 
removed to where they are wanted. If what has been 
said above, on the selection of subjects, be fully appre- 
hended by the reader, he will have little difficulty * in 
regulating his choice, and determining what subjects really 
possess the four essential prerequisites or protecting pro- 
perties ; because proper preparation and the possession of 
those properties may be considered as nearly convertible 
terms. About every place, great or small, such subjects 
are always to be found in pretty open dispositions, in old 



THE planter's guide. 



161 



grass-plots or ayenues, in woodlands near the flower or 
kitchen garden, and the like, where the ground is usually 
kept under the scythe. Here, if the soil be loose and 
deep — that is, if it afford good rooting-ground, you are 
sure to find tolerable subjects, which may be immediately 
taken up, in the manner hereafter to be described. Even 
subjects drawn from hedgerows may be pressed into the 
service, provided their roots have not too deeply pene- 
trated the mound on which the hedge is planted, or pro- 
vided you have a soil of suitable depth to receive them. It 
is not necessary, as already explained in Sect., V . that every 
subject fit for immediate transplantation should be endued 
in the fullest manner with the protecting properties. 
They need only to possess such a proportion of them as 
is sufficient for the exposure in which the tree is to he 
placed. By a sound judgment exercised in this parti- 
cular, and by the help of an experienced eye, much useful 
work may be done with trees taken up at once, and the 
most surprising improvements made at a small expense. 
This, I find, is a part of the business which has not been at 
all understood, as indiscriminate preparation is generally 
conceived to be necessary — a supposition implying need- 
less expense, and quite contrary to judicious practice. 

To prepare single or individual trees is often a work 
of difficulty as well as time. It frequently happens, that 
they may be found in a free exposure, and have good 
bark and stems ; but in such an exposure they are 
frequently defective in branches or roots, or both, in con- 
sequence of mechanical injury suffered from other trees. 
If the branches be tolerable, but the roots deficient by 
being long and scraggy, they are to be cut round accor- 
ding to Lord Fitzharding's method, with some improve- 
ments which have been made on that operation. If the 
deficiency lie in both branches and roots, a different 

L 



162 



THE planter's guide. 



method must be adopted ; as it is plain tliat, brandies 
and roots being relative and correlative, the former could 
not possibly be got to extend were so severe a discipline 
to be practised on the latter. 

To meet this difficulty with any counteracting effect, I 
have found but one method which, although opposite to 
gardeners' practice, is deserving of the notice of the 
planter. Instead of digging among, and disturbing the 
roots for the introduction of manure, let about a cart- 
load of peat compost be taken, carefully prepared as 
above, and in the most perfect state of pulverisation, or 
coal ashes of a like quantity, for a tree five-and-twenty 
feet high ; to which let four or five cart-loads of any 
tolerable soil be added — of an opposite quality, if possible, 
to that of the ground ; and let the whole be laid down 
round the tree, and about four feet out from it. Let 
three workmen proceed to throw these materials close to 
the stem, two throwing the earth and one throwing the 
compost in a regular manner, and scattering the whole in 
the way of lime on a field of fallow. Let the workmen 
next half-trench the heap, as directed above in the fore- 
going section, and intimately mix and toss it backwards 
and forwards for the same purpose. Lastly, let them 
spread it in a sloping direction outwards to the extent of 
the roots ; keeping it at the extremities four inches thick, 
and at the stem about three times that thickness. 
Should there not be materials enough to accomphsh this, 
an additional quantity must be procured. Into this loose 
and friable mould the genial rains of spring will readily 
enter, and, carrying with them the carbonic acid gas of 
the atmosphere, render the whole the most deskable food 
for plants. Thus excited, the fibrous roots, which always 
strike upwards, will, during the first year, nearly per- 
vade the mass ; by which means both the roots and the 



THE planter's guide. 



163 



branches will soon be improved, and the tree itself be in a 
proper condition for taking up after the third or fourth 
season. 

On the other hand, should the branches be tolerable, 
at least for a spiral tree, and the roots defective, in con- 
sequence of tenacity of soil or mechanical injury done by 
other trees, let the following improved method of cutting 
round be followed. 

In the first place, supposing the plant to be five-and- 
twenty feet high, as before, let a trench thirty inches wide 
be opened round it, at the distance of three feet and a 
half, if you mean to let it stand for four years, or more, 
after the operation ; and at the distance of six or seven 
feet, if you mean to let it stand only two years. For let 
it be remembered, that no tree can with propriety be 
taken up, on a single year's growth, after cutting round ; 
because in that case the fresh shoots of the fibres, being 
nearly as tender as the roots of an onion or a cabbage, 
can neither be extricated nor handled without sensible 
injury. 

Supposing the first case, and that the tree be to stand 
for four or more years, the operation is simple. Let the 
trench be cut fully to the depth of the subsoil, rather 
excavating the bank, in order to get somewhat underneath 
the roots ; or, in the case of taprooted plants, (as the Oak 
or Elm,) going down nearly a foot deeper still, and open- 
ing a drain or outlet on the lower side, to prevent a 
stagnation of water if the subsoil be tenacious. After 
this, the earth may be returned, well broken down, into 
the trench ; taking care to put in the surface-mould first, 
in order to afford the best pabulum or nourishment to 
the young fibres, which may be expected at once to strike 
into it. Previously to the last mentioned operation, it 
would certainly be an improvement if a little compost 



164 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



could be spared to mix tlirougli the mass ; but that is an 
improvement which I have seldom had time to practise. 

Supposing the second case, and that the tree be to 
stand only two years, the same method may be followed, 
but with this difference, that on the south and south-west 
sides, two, or perhaps three, of the strongest roots should 
be left uncut, and allowed to pass entire through the 
trench; so that, when taken up at their full length, they 
can act as stays against the winds which may assail it 
from those quarters. Something like this, as Evelyn 
informs us, was done in his time by Lord Fitzharding."^'' 
As to " forcing down trees upon their sides," so as to cut 
the tap-root, which seems to have been practised by that 
nobleman, it may answer with subjects such as his, which 
were of the " bigness only of his thigh.'^ But with heavy 
trees, besides endangering their stability, it would be 
imprudent too severely to reduce their strength, by cutting 
at one and the same time their downward and their lateral 
roots. As to the tap-root, my practice always has been 
to leave it untouched until the tree be taken up. The 
power of renovation which it unquestionably possesses, 
and the erroneous opinions of some respecting it, are 
points that have been sufficiently illustrated in Section TV. 
and the Notes, so as to satisfy any phytologist of the 
striking analogy which subsists between the branches and 
the roots, and that if, shortening may be safely practised 
on the one, it cannot be injurious to the other. 

Before we quit the subject of preparing individual trees, 
it may be proper to repeat what has been already stated, 
that it is an error to imagine, as is done by many, that 
cutting round is an operation which should always be 
resorted to. When advisable, however, two good con- 
sequences result from it. In the first place, it gives supe- 

* Silva. vol. i, p. 102. 



THE TLANTEll's GUIDE. 



165 



rior facility both in the taking up and the replanting of the 
tree; and in the second place, it furnishes a vast multi- 
plicity of fibrous roots, far more numerous than could be 
furnished by unassisted nature ; and these act as so many 
superadded mouths to take up, by means of introsusception, 
the food proper for the nourishment of the plant. This, we 
should reflect, is the more peculiarly needful in a process 
so violent as transplanting, however carefully performed 
and scientifically directed, must imply. 

Next, as to the preparation of trees in large masses. 
In executing designs of any extent, where many subjects 
are wanted, this comes to be a work of necessity as well 
as importance, because materials for such designs could 
not be furnished by individual trees. It is therefore 
proper that it should be done with the least possible, 
expense and labour. For any design, great or small, a 
separate spot, which I have called a transplanting nursery, 
is extremely desirable, as contributing in an eminent 
degree to the facility, not less than to the accuracy, of the 
work. Here subjects of all denominations may be most 
conveniently trained and disciplined. From a nursery 
like this, as from a great repository of materials, high and 
low, light and massive, spreading and spiral trees, may be 
brought forth at pleasure, as may best suit the planter's 
design ; and without throwing away or misapplying the 
prerequisites for success, he may have the power of wood- 
ing the highest, as well as the lowest parts of his grounds. 
The fact is, that all grove-wood from about twenty to 
forty years' growth, if properly thinned and pruned after 
the first ten or twelve years, so as that the tops are never 
after allowed to touch one another, may be esteemed the 
best transplanting nurseries of any, provided that the soil 
be loose and friable ; but there is no necessity for its 
being extremely deep. On the contrary, a thin clay or 



166 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



peaty loam is a desirable soil for training various trees, 
such as the Oak, the Beech, and the Birch, as it gives 
great facilities both in the preparing and taking up. 
Woody glades, or small forest lawns, left open in the 
original planting of a place, are likewise most commo- 
dious as sites for nursery-ground. But to find woods or 
plantations so trained for a series of years, to wide dis- 
tances, is extremely rare, although valuable when they are 
found. I know but one example in this part of the 
country, to the extent of from fifteen to twenty acres, 
but there may easily be others that have escaped my 
notice. A department, however, of the woodland of a 
place of the age just now mentioned, retired from the 
view, but little sheltered by surrounding objects, is the 
most favourable situation both for the convenience and 
the efficiency of the nursery. 

I once more entreat the forgiveness of the reader for 
here obtruding some further account of my own practice. 
But should he have any extent of grounds to be planted 
for immediate efi'ect, and fortunately possess, as I do, a 
remnant of the old belt of Brown and his followers, or 
what would be still more valuable, any of the circular or 
oval clumps of that celebrated artist, which have suffered 
so much obloquy, he may rely upon it that he is pos- 
sessed of a treasure which cannot be too highly prized 
for the purpose in question. With his permission, then, I 
will beg leave to give a cursory idea of my own trans- 
planting nurseries, and of the superior materials out of 
which they were formed. 

About forty years since, when the style of Brown was 
in high fashion and repute, this place was modernised and 
laid out by an eminent landscape gardener, well known in 
Scotland, namely, Mr Thomas White, one of the most 
ingenious of his pupils. With a better education than 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



1G7 



his master could boast, with a more correct taste, and a 
more vivid fancy, White had a juster discernment of the 
true style in which the principles of artificial should be 
appKed to the improvement of real landscape. He was a 
superior draughtsman, and possessed a thorough know- 
ledge of the principles of design; and had it not been 
for the professional trammels by which he was confined, 
he probably would have anticipated, as well as illustrated 
in his own designs, those more correct notions of park 
scenery which Sir Uvedale Price and Mr Knight after- 
wards had the merit of bringing into notice.'" As it was. 
White rather yielded to, than approved of, the fashion of 
the day : accordingly, he gave a belt and clumps to all 
the new places he laid out, and sometimes to the old 
ones, which he so ingeniously improved. 

Although my little park was not deficient in these 
necessary appendages, it must not be imagined that such 
formal plantations, and especially the clumps, were ever 
intended to be permanent by this able artist. On the 
contrary, they were meant to act as kindly and sheltering 
masses to a very open subject, and as the only means of 
protecting and getting up good single trees, and loose 
dispositions of wood. I therefore trenched the ground 
by his advice, and took from it a potato crop (after the 
manner directed in the foregoing section) before being 
planted. About the twelfth or fifteenth year after the 
clumps were planted, I began to cut away the Larch and 
Spruce Firs. These had been introduced merely as nurses 
to the deciduous trees; and from the warmth and shelter 
they had afforded, and the previous double-digging, the 
whole had rushed up with singular rapidity. The next 
thing I did was to thin out the trees to single distance, so 



* Note I. 



168 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



as that the tops could not touch one another, and to cut 
away the side branches within about three or three and a 
half feet of the surface. Bj this treatment it will be 
perceived that a considerable deal of air was admitted 
into the plantations. The light, which before had had 
access only at the top, was now equall}' diffused on all 
sides ; and the trees, although for a few years they 
advanced but little in height, made surprising efforts 
towards a full development of their most important pro- 
perties. They acquired greater strength of stem, greater 
thickness of bark and extension of roots, together with a 
corresponding amplitude of top and branches. 

But at this time it was apparent that the clumps had a 
remarkable advantage over the belt, or continuous planta- 
tion. While in no part so deep as to impede the salutary 
action of the atmosphere, the circular or oval figure of the 
clumps, and their free exposure to the elements, furnished 
them with a far greater proportion of good outside trees ; 
and these, having acquired from the beginning a consi- 
derable share of the protecting properties, were in a situa- 
tion to shelter the rest, and also to prevent the violence 
of the wind from injuriously acting on the interior of the 
mass. It therefore became necessary to thin the belt for 
the second time, which was now done to double distance ; 
that is to say, to such a distance as would have admitted 
of a similar number of trees to stand between the existing 
plants. Thus, within four or five years after the first 
thinning, I began to have tolerable subjects for removal ' 
to situations of moderate exposure ; while every succeed- 
ing season added fresh beauty and vigour to these thriving 
nurseries, and made a visible accession to all the desirable 
prerequisites. 

It is deserving of remark in this place, that no second 
thinning of these clumps was necessary, although on ordi- 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



169 



nary occasions it would have been indispensable, for the 
free admission of air among the plants. At this period 
I happened to have a good deal of transplanting work 
upon mj hands, by which means the original trenching^ 
and the successive removals that were made from the 
clumps, not only served this salutary purpose, but operated 
as a complete preparation of the roots, as well as of every 
other part of the trees which were left behind : for I 
found that, how severely soever they might be cut, I could 
always return to them after two years with renewed 
advantage. The clumps, as it fortunately happened, were 
pretty numerous. They had been planted in various 
soils, from the most tenacious clay to the lightest sand ; 
therefore no better opportunity could be figured for 
raising forest trees of almost every description with 
success. The clumps for the most part, by the above 
operations, were soon reduced to open dispositions of 
wood, and in some instances to mere groups of six and 
seven plants. But some still remained as nurseries for 
subjects, which at this moment are of great size and 
beauty, and endued in the most eminent degree with all 
the protecting properties. 

Although few planters may be so fortunate as to possess 
such valuable remains of the former school of design, yet 
no one, I trust, will find much difficulty, from the state- 
ment just now made, in forming out of the ordinary plan- 
tations of a place a transplanting nursery for himself 
The main object, in such a view, is to select a plantation 
which has friable mould for the development of the roots, 
and, if possible, a dry subsoil ; and such a plantation, 
likewise, as has been the least neglected in proper thinning. 
The first point towards obtaining a good nursery, is to cut 
away the Spruce Firs and Larches, which have been planted 
as nurses. But if any Scotch Firs appear, with tolerable 



170 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



heads (a rare thing to be seen under such circumstances,) 
they are well deserving of preservation. Such fine pictu- 
resque Pines are sometimes susceptible of removal, on the 
principles already laid down ; and they always form noble 
park wood, particularly when of that species which throws 
out its branches horizontally from the stem. The next 
object is to clear away the most drawn up and unsightly 
plants, by at once grubbing them up, so that their roots 
may not continue to exhaust the soil unprofitably, and that 
the best plants may be left free, and at single distance from 
one another. Last of all, the ground is to be trenched 
over, eighteen inches deep at the least — that is, supposing 
it never to have been trenched before — leaving open drains 
deeper than the trench, for the surface water to run off 
properly. 

During this operation, a few of the handsomest plants, 
and such as possess the desirable prerequisites in the 
greatest degree, must have about five feet broad of solid 
ground left round them, and two or three roots also entire 
and untouched on the stormy side. The rest of the trees 
may have three feet and a half of solid ground left entire, 
during the trenching ; also two or three roots in the same 
way, towards the west and southwest, and so passing 
through the trench. During the execution of this work, 
some tolerable mould, to the depth of a foot or better 
near the stem, and not less than six or eight inches at the 
extremity of the solid ground, should be thrown up, in 
order that the roots may send out new fibres into that 
friable superaddition to the soil. Moreover, in respect to 
injury from wind, should the nursery be formed at or near 
the outskirts of a plantation, (which is rather an advan- 
tage,) care must be taken for the three first years to leave 
the two outside rows unthinned, and as close as may be, 
both in respect to underwood and standard plants, the 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



171 



better to break the force of any sudden tempest. All 
these measures are to be taken at some convenient time 
between November and April ; but in situations of par- 
ticular exposure, it would be prudent, on account of the 
winds at the vernal equinox, to postpone the trenching 
uutil that trying season be past. 

In th'e month of April the whole surface must be well 
dunged for a potato crop, if possible with fermented peat 
compost, which is the best ; or if that cannot be com- 
manded, with good farm-yard manure ; and this, with a 
crop of flax, or barley, or early oats, and with one of hay 
immediately following, will more than cover the entire ex- 
pense of grubbing up, trenching, and otherwise preparing 
the nursery. By the end of the fourth year, the trees 
that were considered as the handsomest, and were left with 
the largest solid spaces round them, and the longest roots, 
may now be removed, and others in succession, as they 
are found to acquire the necessary prerequisites. Should 
there be then regular transplanting work going forward, it 
will supersede the necessity of the second thinning. 

But in any transplanting nursery judiciously formed, it 
is not to the spade only that trees are to be indebted for 
complete preparation. The axe and the hedge-bill must 
likewise do their office ; and both are advantageously to 
be employed in fashioning the tops to whatever shape or 
character may be desirable. Most trees growing freely 
are disposed to assume the conical form. To render them 
tall and spiral, so as that distant objects may be shown 
between, or under their boughs, it will be proper to cut 
away all the lowermost branches, or such others as seem 
from their luxuriance to rival the leading stem, leaving 
one stout or main leader pre-eminent above the rest. It 
will be advisable also, to displace the branches of the sides 
in general, and suffer no more to remain than are judged 



172 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



necessary to contain proper vessels in sufficient number, in 
order to convey down the descending sap. In the same man- 
ner, if low and spreading subjects be required — to crown, 
for example, some bold eminence, or clothe its sloping 
sides — the leader or leaders of the top may be headed 
down, for that or similar objects ; and by skilfully repeat- 
ing the operation from time to time, we shall produce or 
continue what has been called the clump -headed charac- 
ter. Let it not, however, be imagined that the mutila- 
ting, or what is usually called the " lightening," of the tops 
of trees is by any means intended. The system here re- 
commended is radically and characteristically Peeseeya- 
TIYE, and one of its striking merits consists in carefully 
seconding, not counteracting the laws of nature. Her 
exuberant efforts, indeed, may be sometimes discreetly 
restrained, or specially directed, without producing those 
unhappy consequences which never fail to flow from undue 
violence, under whatever name it may be allowed to ope- 
rate. It is by the former method alone, that the scientific 
planter will communicate to his trees that particular 
character which best suits his purpose, and thus be enabled 
to confer both intricacy and variety on his landscapes. 

In ordering the useful nurseries here attempted to be 
described, the size will, of course, depend on the scale of 
the place, and the wants of the owner. Two acres, or 
three at most, would probably suffice as a repository of 
transplanting materials for pretty large places, with the 
addition of such single trees as may always be found in 
plantations of extent. But it is not necessary, nor would 
it at all times be practicable, to set apart such a space of 
woodland in one spot. More divisions, however, of this 
sort of training ground are just as good as fewer, if the 
requisite quantity be obtained on the whole, and be the ex- 
tent what it may, provided a competent degree of healthful 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



173 



exposure, but likewise relative shelter, can be commanded 
at pleasm-e. The great point of judgment and difficulty lies 
in the opening up. A slow and gradual, yet ultimately a 
full exposure, should be given to the plantation ; but we 
should neither chill the trees by too sudden a transition to 
cold, from the former temperature of the wood, nor yet, 
by too timid a style of thinning, continue the existence of 
the non-protecting properties. 

Perhaps it may appear a recommendation to some, 
should they be persuaded to undertake this novel cultiva- 
tion of woodland, that the benefits resulting from it are 
not wholly confined to the removal of trees. If the ex- 
tent of the tree nursery thus formed be two or three acres, 
and the trees themselves of from twenty to thhty years 
growth, then there will stand on the ground probably more 
than three hundred plants per acre, after the first thin- 
ning. Now, supposing that the landowner, who had 
formed the nursery, should change his mind as to trans- 
planting, and wish to dedicate the space to ordinary wood- 
land purposes, it is to be observed that he has as yet put 
himself to httle or no expense by this arboricultural im- 
provement. The culture which he has bestowed upon the 
plantation has already made its return by ample remune- 
rating crops ; and to whatever purpose he may think pro- 
per to turn it, the ground will still give him tolerable crops 
of hay for some years to come. But after all, on compar- 
ing it with his plantations of a corresponding age, it will 
be found that he has strikingly benefited, not deteriorated, 
the trees ; for they will yield him more vigorous and valu- 
able wood than he could have obtained by any other given 
method. 



SECTION VIII. 



TAKING UP AND TRANSPORTATION OF THE TREES. 

If there be any one thing more than another in the 
removal of trees, that places the superiority of the preser- 
vative system in a striking point of view, it is the manage- 
ment of the roots. Few planters, in the taking up of trees, 
make much account of roots, provided that a large mass 
or ball of earth only adhere to them. Marshall, one of 
the most judicious writers who has treated the subject, in 
giving directions on this point, says that the length of the 
roots, properly speaking, should not be less than the fourth 
part of the whole height of the tree ; although probably, 
from a want of the means of extricating them from the 
soil, he did not contemplate the possibility of applying the 
rule to trees of any magnitude.'''' Had he been better 
acquainted with vegetable physiology, he would have seen 
that, by the law of nature, roots and branches must in 
every case be relative and correlative ; and that the stan- 
dard of judging with respect to roots is not the height of 
the plant, but the actual length of the side branches. If 
we mean that our subjects should fully possess the pro- 
tecting properties, in respect to those two important con- 
servative organs, they must possess them relatively in 
such proportions as nature confers on all trees which are 
found to thrive in open exposures. 

* See Rural Ornament, vol i. p. 367. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



175 



Roots spread themselves in the ground in a way 
nearly analogous to that in which branches spread them- 
selves in the air, but with a far greater multiplicity of 
ramification. From the principal root proceed the buds 
that give rise to the primary rootlets ; and these again 
give off finer ramifications, which are the true absorbents 
of the root. To take up such minute and diminutive 
shoots on the preservative principle, in any thing like an 
entire state, is obviously impossible with the arboricultural 
implements now generally in use. Hence it became 
necessary to have something more effective, and the 
tree-picker was some years since invented for this pur- 
pose, and is now used in Scotland by many persons who 
have witnessed its extraordinary utility in my practice. 
This implement is of very simple structure, resembling 
the pick used by miners, but with only one point or 
prong, which forms an angle somewhat more acute with the 
handle, than in the miner s pick. See Plate lY., Fig. 4. 
The head, which is of iron, and fifteen inches long in the 
prong, is made extremely light, as also the wooden handle. 
The length of the latter is two feet and a half, the entire 
implement weigliing no more than about four and a half 
pounds. In fact, it can scarcely be made too light for 
the purpose in question. 

From what has been said in the foregoing section, 
respecting the preparation of trees, it is apparent that 
those which have been cut round are more easily taken 
up than those that have never been so prepared. The 
trench made during this operation serves as a sm-e guide, 
to show the point to which the fibrous elongation has 
extended ; whereas, in subjects which have undergone no 
such preparation, the roots must be judged of from other, 
and sometimes more uncertain circumstances. Every 
experienced workman is aware, in examining a tree that 



176 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



has never been prepared, for the purpose of taking it up, 
that in anj tolerable rooting-groimd, he will find the 
points of the roots, if not mechanically prevented, running 
out to the full extent of the branches, and sometimes still 
farther out. Hence he should begin cautiously to try 
with the spade and picker, in order to discover the extreme 
points of the rootlets. Whether the roots he may lay 
bare belong to the plant, or to some other tree of the 
same species, he will at a glance perceive, from what the 
workmen call " the feathering," — that is, the position of the 
capillary rootlets upon the primary rootlets or branches, 
which are always found pointing outwards from the body 
of the tree. 

Having ascertained where the extremities lie, the next 
step to be taken is to open a trench two or two and a 
feet wide, and cut down to the subsoil, or deeper, should 
the roots have penetrated so far. The bank in which the 
roots seem to lie, is then to be undermined to the extent 
of eight or ten inches, in order to facilitate the operation 
of the picker. Two workmen are next to extricate or 
scratch up the roots, while one more is sufficient to throw 
out the mould, which in consequence falls down into the 
trench ; and thus the workmen are distributed three and 
three together, according to the number employed, over 
the whole extent of the excavation. As every effort 
must be made to preserve the minutest fibres and capillary 
rootlets entire, the difference between an experienced and 
an inexperienced workman is very striking, in an operation 
of so much nicety ; and the surprising dexterity which 
some men of ingenuity and attention acquire in this 
department, is as valuable to the employer as it is beau- 
tiful and interesting to the spectator who examines it. 
The main thing which the pickman has here to study is, 
never to strike across the roots, but as much as possible 



THE PLANTEii's GUIDE. 



177 



in the line of their elongation, always standing in the 
right line of diyergence from the tree as a centre ; that 
is, in such a line or lines as the rays of the sun are 
represented to describe in emanating from that luminous 
body. In striking the picker into the ground, which 
must sometimes be done pretty deeply, there is a certain 
dexterous shake, more easily understood than described, 
which a superior workman knows how to gi^e with the 
implement ; and that, when properly applied, will more 
efficaciously and speedily discover and disengage the 
various bearings and ramifications of the root than any 
other method. 

By thus continuing to extricate the roots, and to 
shovel away the mould that falls into the trench at one 
and the same time, an immense body, amounting to thou- 
sands, and sometimes to milHons of roots, great and small, 
will ere long be disengaged, and which must be carefully 
laid aside or bundled up, so as to make room for the 
workmen, and also to avoid the strokes of their imple- 
ments, as well as injury from their feet. In like manner 
the stiffer roots must be cautiously put aside and disposed 
of, and any that are broken or lacerated cut off. Ere long 
the pickmen from all sides nearly meet in the centre, by 
approaching to within three, four, or five feet of the stem, 
in proportion to its size ; and at this point the process of 
extrication ceases, as it would be imprudent to advance 
too near the collar of the tree. A ball of earth round 
the stem, as large as can be got according to the nature 
of the soil, with two or three feet broad of the original 
sward adhering to it, should now, if possible, be left un- 
disturbed at that place. 

The above, as the reader will perceive, is a very com- 
plicated and delicate process, although probably more 
complicated in the description than in the execution. It 

M 



178 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



is no easy matter, even in the freest soils, so to disen- 
gage the fibrous and capillary roots of trees, as not to 
lacerate or disbark a considerable number of them, and 
yet perform the work with any tolerable despatch. But 
it is the process of all others which will the least bear to 
be hurried. There are some departments of rural labour 
in which despatch and economy are nearly allied, and 
almost conyertible terms, and where every one, of course, 
will study to promote the former as far as lies in his 
power. But in the one in question, the greatest delibera- 
tion, or at least the greatest caution, is the truest saving 
that can be made. For here the well-known adage, 
Festina lente, is the golden rule which should regulate 
the process. It is well known to the vegetable anatomist, 
who can discern with his microscope the flattened extre- 
mities of the capillary rootlets, {Capillamenta,) how well 
fitted they are to perform the office of absorption, and 
that it is to those eficctive organs chiefly that plants are 
indebted for the introsusception of their food. Hence, 
when disbarked or lacerated, or, what is worse, cut away, 
the severe and often inefi'ectual eff*orts made by planters to 
restore or replace them. The planter cannot too earnestly 
reflect, that the greater roots do little more than serve as 
canals or channels to transmit the sap to the trunk, 
where it ascends by the tubes of the wood to the branches, 
and ultimately to the leaves ; on which account it is 
evident, that the failure and decay of the top (the great 
opprobrium of transplanters) is primarily to be ascribed 
to the entire want of skill in the preservation of these 
fibrous roots, on which the tree mainly depends for a 
suitable supply of sap during the first season. He, 
therefore, who can most successfully vanquish this diffi- 
culty is the greatest master of his art. 

But to return to the business of the field. As soon as 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



179 



the workmen have completed the task of extrication, 
within three or four feet of the stem, as already explained, 
it becomes necessary to take measures for pulling down 
the tree. According to circumstances, its roots are now 
either to be covered up, in order to be planted out with 
others at a future period, or it is immediately to be 
raised from the pit and removed by itself. On the sup- 
position that the roots are to be covered up, it is of some 
importance that that work be done properly and care- 
fully, so as not to injure the tender fibres. After trying 
various substances for this purpose, I have found nothing 
to answer so well as the smaller branches of the Spruce or 
Silver Fir, which unite closeness with elasticity. For 
straw, or turf, or moss, {ScoUice fog,) are all apt to inter- 
mingle with the fibres, and cannot be separated from 
them without much mischief ensuing. The roots, for 
obvious reasons, (as their time of lying covered must 
always be uncertain,) are not now to be put up in bundles 
or masses, but stretched out at their full length in the pit. 
The branches and twigs of Spruce or Silver Fir are then 
laid over them in at least two rows or strata in thickness ; 
next, eight or nine inches of fine mould follow ; and last 
of all, sods of common turf are here and there added to 
increase the pressure. If the subsoil be retentive of 
moisture, a deep cut is at the same time made at the 
lower edge of the excavation, in order that the water may 
not stagnate in any part. 

In this way I have often found the roots of the soft- 
wooded trees, such as the Lime and the Horse Chestnut, 
lie safely in the ground for a month or six weeks, or more, 
when severe frost happened to supervene and stop the work 
of planting. But as the hard-wooded kinds, especially the 
Oak and the Beech, are extremely sensitive of cold or 
drought, it is always desirable to plant them within a week 



180 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



or ten days after the roots have been loosened in the ground. 
If this be not done, the latter often become discolom-ed 
by the action of the air, and when blackness appears, it 
is a symptom oftentimes fatal to the success of the plants. 

On the supposition that the tree is to be immediately 
removed, it must be raised at once from the pit. It can- 
not have escaped the intelligent reader, that if it be a 
subject of any magnitude, say eight-and-twenty feet high, 
what with the actual thickness of its mass of roots and 
earth, which cannot be less than two feet, and what with 
the contents of the trench that have been thrown out 
round the bank, the pit so formed must, in any case, be 
from three to four feet deep. In order to bring up from 
the pit so heavy a load, I used, some years since, to 
employ five and six horses, and even a greater number. 
At present it is done usually with one horse, and never 
more than two, by the following simple contrivance, 
which certainly nothing but the most extraordinary want 
of reflection could have prevented from being seen in the 
beginning. This sufficiently proves, if any proof were 
wanting, how strikingly men will often pursue a more 
circuitous route to their object, when a nearer and more 
direct one lies open before their eyes. 

With the view, then, of effecting the two purposes in 
question, namely, the pulling down of the tree, and the 
getting it out of the pit, a strong but soft rope, of perhaps 
four inches in girth, is fixed as near to the top of the tree 
as a man can safely climb, so as to furnish the longest 
possible lever to bear upon the roots ; taking care, at the 
same time, to interpose two or three folds of mat, in order 
to prevent the chafing of the bark. Eight or nine work- 
men (the greatest number I usually employ in the 
department in question) are then set to draw the tree 
down on one side : or it is a good way, if you have an 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



181 



old and stead j-puUing horse, to employ him in this 
business — for it is plain that one stout horse, acting 
forcibly on the rope, vyill do more than twenty men, even 
if so great a number could get about it ; and, moreover, 
he will save some manual labour in excavating, by giving 
an eflPectual pull at a much earlier period of the work. 
The tree being drawn down, it is next forcibly held in 
that position, until earth be raised to the height of a foot 
or more on the opposite side of the pit, so that, as soon 
as it is liberated, it springs up, and stops against the bank 
thus formed. On this the workmen proceed to lighten 
the mass of earth with the picker, laying bare the roots 
as little as possible, but still necessarily reducing the 
mass to manageable dimensions. The tree is then pulled 
down on the opposite side, and a foot of earth forced up 
in a similar manner ; and the same thing being repeated 
once or twice, it is gradually raised to even a higher level 
than that of the adjoining surface. In this manner, by a 
method extremely simple, and not less expeditious, how- 
ever it may appear in the narrative, it becomes quite an 
easy, instead of a formidable undertaking, to draw the tree 
from the pit. 

Before the tree is pulled down, as just now described, 
there is one thing more which must not be omitted. 
Almost all trees, as stated in Section lY., are ill balanced 
in point of ramification, and towards the stormy quarter, 
usually the south-west, they exhibit a "weather side;'' 
which side, accordingly, is on removal to be reversed, as 
shall be directed in the sequel. Therefore, while the tree 
retains its upright position is the only certain time to 
ascertain the side where the longest branches have been 
thrown out. This is now accurately done by the director 
of the work, and the side in question marked on the stem 
with chalk, or very slightly with a knife, care being taken 



182 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



not to penetrate bejond tlie epidermis. After wliicli the 
tree is ready to be put upon the machine, and drawn out 
of the pit. 

In giving the history of the progress of the art during 
the last century, it was stated above that Brown, the 
celebrated landscape gardener, was the inventor of the 
best and simplest transplanting machine now known. It 
consists of a strong pole and two wheels, with a smaller 
wheel occasionally used, which is fixed at the extremity 
of the pole, and turns on a pivot. The pole operates both 
as a powerful lever to bring down the trees to the hori- 
zontal position, and, in conjunction with the wheels, as a 
still more powerful conveyance to remove them to their 
new situation. Various, however, are the machines 
which the caprice of fashion, the love of novelty, and, in 
some instances, the ambition of attempting a stupendous 
scale of work, have introduced into both France and 
England within the last century and a half. Among 
these are the gTeat machine of Versailles, constructed by 
order of Louis XIV., with its broad and powerful wheels 
and platforms ; the high three-wheeled machine of Eng- 
land during the last century, of ponderous make, with its 
platform also, for transferring trees of vast size and 
weight in an upright position ; the oblong machine of the 
same period, with four, and sometimes six low wheels, for 
the same gigantic purpose : these, and such like costly 
implements, more fitted for show than daily use, it were 
needless to enumerate, and still more needless to describe. 
My sole object being a park-practice, to which despatch 
and success are the chief recommendations, I prefer the 
simple machine of Brown, with some improvements which 
I have made upon it, to all other contrivances. It is to 
that machine, therefore, that the directions for the trans- 
portation about to be given are understood to refer. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



183 



The tree being in readiness, as above described, for 
remoyal to its new site, the machining of it (if I may be 
permitted the expression) is a work deserving of the 
particular attention of the planter.'"" On the skill of the 
person who conducts this department, and whom I have 
ventured to denominate the machiner, much depends in 
providing, against the various accidents to which branches, 
not less than roots, are exposed in an operation always 
implying much violence, and sometimes unforeseen contin- 
gency. The first step to be taken is, to bring the wheels 
of the machine close up to the body of the tree ; and 
should the protuberance of the nucleus, or mass of roots 
under the collar, stand in the way, as sometimes happens, 
the wheels must be forcibly approximated until they be 
quite close. While this is about to be performed, the 
machiner darts an experienced eye over the stem and 
whole style of the ramification, and at once ascertains the 
side upon which the tree can be best laid along the pole, 
and also the particular opening among the boughs into 
which the pole can be most safely introduced. If there 
be the smallest bend in the stem, as almost always hap- 
pens, the convex side must lie uppermost on the machine ; 
otherwise, were the concave side to be so placed, the 
great weight of both the root and top, acting at once on 
so narrow and unstable a surface as the stem presents, 
would cause the fastenings to slip on the first movement 
of the wheels, and in consequence of the tree turning 
suddenly round, the most shocking havoc might be com- 
mitted among both branches and roots. 

However easy all this may appear to the looker-on, 
who views the work, there is much judgment and nicety 
in ascertaining such adaptations, and there is a consider- 



* Note I. 



18 i 



THE PLAOTER's guide. 



able saving of time, and consequently of expense, in at 
once ascertaining tliem, without those tedious consulta- 
tions and vexatious delays in which the best workmen are 
apt to indulge in this stage of the business. For such an 
evil there is no remedy but in the useful principle of the 
subdivision of labour — or, in other words, in making the 
machiner's a distinct office, of which the duty is com- 
mitted to the sagacity and despatch of a single individual. 
Besides these arrangements, it is a material consideration 
so to machine the tree as that its lee-side branches, which 
are always the stoutest and longest, should, if possible, be 
uppermost on the pole when the tree is laid horizon- 
tally ; because no branch or root of considerable length 
should be suffered to sweep the ground during the time 
of transportation. But other circumstances may occur to 
render this desirable position of the roots and branches 
impracticable — such as a decided and untoward bend in 
the stem, in an adverse direction ; in which case the 
machiner must adopt the next best arrangement, and that 
which will do the least injury. 

As soon as the machiner has adjusted these things, and 
directed the proper introduction of the pole among the 
boughs, an active workman is sent up to lash the stem 
and the pole as firmly together as possible, taking care, 
by redoubled folds of mat, to secure the bark against the 
damage it might suffer from the iron ring at the point of 
the pole. A double rope of the stoutest kind (which is 
greatly preferable to the chain used by some planters) is 
then passed under the root, so as to seize it firmly, and 
balance it on the upper stage of the cross-bar between the 
wheels ; which rope is then drawn tight by means of 
bracing or rackpins, such as waggoners generally use, and 
secured in the ordinary manner. Last of all, the tree is 
drawn down by the united strength of the workmen, or 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



185 



bj a steady horse, if at hand, bearing on the pole-rope ; 
and the tree, being in this way left suspended horizon- 
tally on the cross-bar, is ready to be drawn away, root 
foremost, to its intended destination. 

Before the horse or horses are put to, a simple but very 
material matter requires attention, and that is, to secure 
the boughs and roots from all friction with the wheels or 
with the ground, which would greatly chafe and injure 
both : for all the boughs which appear under the pole, 
unless yery slender and pliant, must be bound up by 
means of cords cautiously passed under them, so as to 
compress this part of the top, but without fracturing the 
parts, into the narrowest compass. And the same care 
must be taken to bundle up all the flexible parts of the 
roots, so as to prevent their coming in contact with the 
ground, or with the wheels. If the forced-up surface also 
of the pit be too soft and sinky, it will be expedient to 
form a path for the wheels by a close line of hedge-stakes 
laid transversely to the path, so that they may easily j^ass 
upon it to the firmer ground. These things being done, 
the horses are put to, in the same manner as to a plough, 
but with much stronger draught-bars, at least the main 
one. An iron chain of great strength attaches them to 
the machine ; and stout ropes are employed instead of 
plough-chains, which are ill calculated to withstand the 
sudden pulls and jerks incident to this species of work. 
As to the horses, it is of the utmost importance that none 
but quiet and steady-pulling animals be admitted to this 
service — such as are not hot and fiery, however true to the 
draught — otherwise the most fatal accidents may ensue to 
both branches and roots. 

As soon as the horses are put to, the machiner seizes 
the end of the pole-rope, in order to act as steersman — the 
most important function ary in this part of the business. 



186 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



and the person on whom the safety of the transmission 
entirely depends. For this purpose he takes post two or 
three yards in the rear, with a stout assistant or two, if 
necessary, in order to manage the top of the tree ; it being 
understood that the root, as already mentioned, is in front, 
or is drawn foremost. One or two able-bodied workmen 
are then stationed under the pole, to bear up the top, at 
first starting, on their shoulders, at the same time that all 
the others who are unoccupied apply their streng-th to the 
wheels ; when, on a signal giyen by the steersman, or 
other person directing the work — the men and horses act- 
ing simultaneously — ^the tree is drawn at once beyond the 
limits of the pit. 

When advanced a few yards upon firm and level ground, 
it is prudent to halt the horses, in order to examine if 
every thing be well ordered and secure ; especially if the 
equilibrium between root and top have been accmately 
obtained. If the root be found too light, it is proper to 
make it heavier, by loosening the cords of the bracers or 
rackpins, and allowing it to drop down. If it be found 
too heavy, (which is the lesser evil of the two,) the easiest 
method of counteracting it is by sending up a couple of 
balancemen to the top ; who, by shifting their position as 
circumstances may require, serve as movable make-weights, 
and maintain the equipoise. If these things be truly 
adjusted, the tree will proceed in the transportation with 
perfect safety to all its parts — the pole beautifully playing 
on the axle and cross-bar, like the beam of a well-con- 
structed weighing-machine, which many times vibrates 
before settling in the equilibrium. 

In order that the reader may form a competent idea of 
the machine itself, as used here, and of the transportation 
of the tree on the balancing principle, a " view of the 
machine in motion'' will be found in plate III., as taken 



iiiiliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



187 



on the spot by an ingenious artist. The tree delineated 
is a Beech of about eight-and-twenty feet high, with a 
stout stem, a beautiful top, and with roots more than 
twelve feet long ; so that the whole is calculated to form 
a load of considerable weight. The mode of maintaining 
the balance, of bundling up the roots, of compressing and 
preserving the branches — as also the various functions of 
the steersman, the balancemen and their assistants — may 
all probably be better apprehended in this view of their 
united efforts than by any verbal description. The 
reader, however, may compare the two, as they will be 
found greatly to aid each other. 

It is easy to apprehend that, with a machine so con- 
structed, the person stationed at the end of the pole 
possesses the same complete power over the direction of 
it as the steersman over that of a boat ; but with this 
disadvantage on the side of the former, that the machine 
is far more difficult to manage than the boat in the water, 
owing to the greater unevenness of the surface of ground, 
and the extraordinary length of the pole, as compared 
with the rudder, thereby causing a much more sudden 
impulse to be communicated to the machine than to the 
boat. The steersman of the machine has, for that reason, 
a far more difficult part to perform, in which much judg- 
ment as well as strength is called forth, and where one 
assistant, and sometimes two or three, are requisite to aid 
him in so laborious a task. 

The above mode of balancing the tree between the axle, 
which is the centre of gravity, and the extremity of the 
pole, I greatly prefer, on every occasion where it can be 
adopted, to that of having recourse to the third wheel. 
This addition to the machine could seldom be made, with 
such extensive tops as the park-trees removed here usually 
have, without severe injury to the branches. But it will 



188 



THE PLAJ^TER'S GUIDE 



be found useful with long-stemmed, or verj lieavy subjects 
of any sort, especially when they are to be brought from 
the distance of half a mile or more, as must often happen. 
I have, however, by bringing the third wheel closer to the 
two others, endeayoured to render this less objectionable. 

In a system of transportation regulated by the aboye 
principles, it will be perceived that the driver of the 
horses cannot proceed too slowly. The rate of between 
two and three miles an hour, on level gTound, implies the 
quickest pace that should ever be attempted. By heights 
and hollows, and narrow passes, by roughness or un- 
evenness of ground, accidents enow will happen, without 
aggravating them by carelessness or needless haste. In 
going up an acclivity, how gradual soever it may be, it is 
obvious that, with a load so nicely balanced, a proportional 
depression of the top must take place, and in descending 
a like depression of the root. But by the attention of the 
steersman, and particularly of the two balancemen above, 
or the efforts of both united, much undue pressm-e on 
either roots or branches may be avoided. If the declivity 
be steep, approaching to a fall of one foot in twenty, fore- 
sight will suggest the expediency of taking off the horses, 
so as to prevent the possibility of their being overrun by 
the machine ; for in such a case it will be found to descend 
with sufficient velocity, and little aid from the men, in 
consequence of the impetus given to it by its own weight. 

There is, however, one species of accident, against which 
it may be proper to caution the inexperienced planter, as 
it has happened at this place. As it did happen, it was 
productive only of merriment, instead of the loss of hfe or 
limb ; although such an issue was far more " owing to 
good luck than to good guiding,"^ (as the national proverb 
has it,) or to any claim to vigilance or prudent manage- 
ment. In proceeding with the machine down a gentle 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



189 



slope of some length, at an accelerated pace, on whicli occa- 
sion both the balancemen had gained the top with their 
usual agilitj, it so fell out that the cords which secured 
the rackpins of tlie root unfortunately gave way. This 
happened so suddenly that the root at once struck the 
ground, with a force equal to the united weight of the 
mass and the momentum of the movement, and pitched 
the balancemen, (now suddenly lifted to an elevation of 
nearly thirty feet,) like two shuttle-cocks, to many yards' 
distance, over the heads of the horses and the diiver, who 
stood in amazement at their sudden and aerial flight ! 
Luckily for the men, there was no frost upon the ground, 
so that, instead of breaking their bones, they fell only on 
the soft turf of the park ; from which soon getting up, and 
shaking themselves, they heartily joined in the laughter of 
their companions at the extraordinary length of the leap 
which they had taken. Fortunately, also, the driver and 
the horses escaped a worse fate, " which had impended 
them — for the steersman and his assistants, with great 
presence of mind, never quitted their hold ; and their 
weight, added to the weight of a ponderous mass of roots 
and earth, kept the tree upright, and prevented it from 
overwhelming both the team and the driver. This accident, 
which was at once dangerous and ludicrous, made us 
extremely cautious afterwards in securing the bracers ; 
but the imagination of the balancemen was forcibly im- 
pressed by it, and it proved impossible to persuade them 
to resume their elevated functions for many months after. 

It now only remains to say something of the natm'e 
and dimensions of the transplanting macliines which have 
been employed, in order that those who set a value on 
lightness and efficiency in such implements may not be 
without a guide whereby to provide similar machines for 
themselves. Planters, however, residing within a mode- 



190 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



rate distance, would do well to procure them from Thomas 
Nesbit, carpenter near this place, a very ingenious man, 
who has been much in the habit of making them for some 
years. 

It appears hitherto to have been the opinion of the 
constructors of transplanting machines, that their value in 
a great measm^e lies in the weight of wood and iron they 
contain. My conception of it, on the other hand, is pre- 
cisely the reverse ; as I believe that the smaller the 
quantity of those materials, the greater the utility of the 
implement. If it be true that the greatest success and 
the greatest despatch united form the character of the 
most perfect transplanting-work, it follows that heavy 
implements of this sort, unless for work of uncommon 
magnitude, are doubly inexpedient : first, on account of the 
expense which they cost in the beginning ; and secondly, 
on account of the still greater expense which it ere long 
costs to use them — for time needlessly lost is money im- 
providently thrown away. Better that a machine should 
break down twice in your life, from being somewhat 
too light for its work, than that it should cost you three 
times its price in labour, in dragging a superfluous load of 
wood and iron about your park ; for thus there would be 
a loss of both time and money. This, however, is a style 
of estimate which only practical persons will understand, 
and only economists of time will duly appreciate. If a 
man remove only three trees in a twelvemonth, it signifies 
little what sort of machine he happens to use ; but if he 
remove sixty or a hundred trees, twenty or thirty times 
the cost makes a great figure in the calculation. Now, 
supposing that he executed but a third part of the work 
last mentioned, I am satisfied that there would be economy 
in having two machines, calculated to the scale of his 
work : the machine for the lesser trees being light, and 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



191 



possessing small power ; the other, for the greater trees, 
being weighty, and possessing much greater power. In 
this way, power (which, as the best philosophers have 
agreed, is nearly the synonyme of money) wonld never be 
idly employed, but judiciously suited to, though never 
suffered to transcend, the immediate object of the planter. 

As this reasoning appears to be conclusive, I shall 
now proceed to give a delineation of the larger and 
smaller machines used at this place ; to which shall be 
added one of an intermediate size, chiefly intended for the 
use of such planters as do not choose to put themselves 
to the expense of more than one such implement, and 
who do not mean to remove trees beyond thirty feet high, 
and from twelve to fourteen inches in diameter, at a foot 
from the ground — which trees this machine should be 
capable of managing. See plate TV. The diagram here 
given relates to the pole, axle, and framework of the ma- 
chine — that is, to every part of it excepting the wheels. 
The latter it was considered as unnecessary to delineate 
in the diagram, as the entire " machine in motion'^ is given 
in plate III. ; and any good carpenter can make the 
wheels, on the dimensions being furnished to him. The 
main difficulty in constructing an effective machine lies in 
proportioning the different parts to one another, and so 
adapting the whole to the style of work to be executed, 
that despatch shall be promoted in the highest degree, and 
that the heaviest work shall be executed by means of the 
smallest possible weight of wood and iron. 

These machines, as already said, are of the simplest 
structure, and evidently borrowed from the j anker of the 
wood-merchant."'^ The pole is made of the best oak, the 
axle of iron, the wheels of Oak, Elm, and Ash, as also 



* Note II. 



192 



THE planter's guide. 



the subordinate parts. To the original implement I have 
added, among the other improvements, three stages strongly 
bolted to the cross-bar, or axle-bed, (as our workmen term 
it,) and to one another, of which the upper stage is mov- 
able at pleasure, as the extent of roots or branches may 
require elevation from the ground. The third wheel, 
which according to Brown's plan was diminutive, is en- 
larged, and adapted to a different part of the pole. The 
specification is as follows : — (See plate IV.) 

LARGE-SIZED MACHINE. 

The pole AB (fig. 1) is 15 feet long, including the 
iron ring at the point ; 6 inches broad, tapering to 3i at 
top ; and 5 inches thick. The iron ring at A is 4 inches 
in diameter. At the top there is a small bend EC, (fig. 
2,) 3 inches ofi" the straight, in order to prevent the bark 
from being chafed by the ring. Immediately at the point, 
but clear of the ring, is fixed a small block of iron at C, 
with rounded edges, 4 inches long, by li inch thick, 
well steeled, so as to trail along the ground, and to prevent 
the point of the pole, when the machine is not loaded, 
from cutting up the surface. There is likewise, on one 
side of the pole, a plate of iron DC, extending from D, 
within 18 inches of the axle, to nearly the top at E, for 
the purpose of strengthening the pole. It is 2J inches 
broad, f inch thick, and sunk into the wood. This 
plate, for the sake of greater power, should be in one piece. 
Its entire length is not visible in the diagram, owing to 
the intervening delineation of one of the side-stays. 

The iron axle FG (fig. 1,) and also IK (fig. 3,) is 5i 
feet long between the washers, (but is nearly covered by the 
case,) and 3 inches square ; with a curve of 3 inches at 
H, for the purpose of giving greater strength. It would 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



193 



not be convenient, however it might suit large roots or 
branches, to make the axle longer than the above dimen- 
sion, on account of gates, and other narrow passes, through 
which the machine might be taken, and that seldom 
exceed 9 or 10 feet wide. The heads of the axle WW 
are 1 4 inches long, and fitted to the bushes of the wheels. 
The dust-hoops are 1 inch broad each. The wooden 
case IK (or, as it is called, the axle-bed) is 6 inches 
square, covering the iron, 2 inches, and consequently 
showing only 1 inch of it. To the axle-bed are fixed 
two strong hooks of iron ZZ, 6i inches long, and strongly 
bolted to it, to which the horses are attached for drawing 
the machine. 

The two side-stays PLGL (fig. 1) are made as short as 
possible, in order to prevent interference with the branches, 
being 5 feet long, 3i inches broad, and 4 inches deep or 
thick, and strongly bolted to the axle-bed and pole. The 
upper stay MN, (fig. 2,) which rests upon the first stage 
at M, is 5| feet long, 3J inches broad, and 4i inches 
thick, and is in like manner bolted to the pole. 

The first stage OP (fig. 3) rises 4 inches in the centre 
above the axle-bed, and is bolted to it. This stage is 5 
feet 5 inches long, 6 inches broad, and 4 inches thick. 
The second stage QR rises 6 inches above the first, and 
is in the same way bolted to the latter. It is also 5 feet 
5 inches long, 10 inches broad, and 3 inches thick. The 
third stage ST rises 6 inches above the second. It is 
only 3 feet 10 inches long, 10 inches broad, and 3 inches 
thick, and is similarly bolted to the stage last mentioned. 
The third stage is movable as occasion may require ; and 
the machine can be used either with or without it, accor- 
ding to the extent of the roots and branches of the trees 
to be removed. On the stage which happens to be upper- 
most there is fixed a firm bolstering of double mat SVT, 



194 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



filled with hay or straw, of at least 6 inches in thickness, 
so that the bark of the stem can sustain no injury. 

The blocks UUUUU between these two stages, are 10 
inches long, 4 inches broad, and 6 inches high. The end 
of the upper stay at X (or at M, fig. 2,) resting on the 
first stage, represents, in the end view of the machine, 
another block in that position ; and the end of the pole at 
Y is seen in the same way, and for the same object. 
Wherever it can be done, the bolts, for the various pur- 
poses above mentioned, are shown in the diagram. 

LARGE-SIZED WHEELS. 

These wheels are made of the very best materials, 5i 
feet high, and nearly upright, the dishing (as the work- 
men term it) being only 1^ inch. 

The naves are Hi inches long, exclusively of the nave- 
bands, and 13 inches thick. The spokes are 3^ inches 
broad, and 1| inch thick ; the fellies 5 inches broad, 
and 3 inches thick ; the iron rims i inch thick, and 
usually made in two pieces 2i inches broad each. 

The third wheel, having no great weight to bear, is 
made light. It is 3^ feet high, and entirely upright, 
without any dishing. The naves are 9 inches long, 
exclusively of the bands, and 9 inches thick. The 
spokes are 2i inches broad, and li inch thick ; the 
fellies 4 inches broad, and 2 inches thick ; the iron rim J 
inch thick. The wheel is fixed to the pole by a strong 
pivot, on which it turns as the steersman may direct, in 
the same way as the wheel of a plough. 

This wheel, when used, is generally from 2 to 3 feet 
high, and placed about 3 feet from the point of the pole, 
at h (fig. 2.) But I should much recommend a different 
position, (in order to elevate the point of the pole, and, 



THE PLANTEE's GUIDE. 



195 



by consequence, tlie branches from the ground,) namely, 
at a, 5 feet nearer the axle, and within 18 inches or 2 
feet of the end of the upper stay ; from which it can 
be removed at pleasure, as may suit the magnitude of 
the tree. 

The entire weight of the machine, when mounted on 
its two wheels, is nearly 11 cwt. avoirdupois. 

This, it will be perceived, is a powerful though rather a 
ponderous implement, and cannot be worked with fewer 
than two, and sometimes three horses. It is meant for 
trees not less than from five-and-thirty to five-and-forty 
feet high, or more, and from fourteen to eighteen inches 
in diameter — that is, from three and a half to four feet 
in girth. 

From the above statement it is apparent that con- 
siderable improvements have been made on the machine 
since the time of Brown, and from the rude delineation 
of it as introduced into Ireland, about threescore years 
since, by his ingenious pupil Robertson.* Some persons 
approve of the uniform use of the third wheel, within 2^ 
or 3 feet of the point of the pole : but that cannot be 
necessary, as already mentioned, but with subjects of 
extraordinary length or weight ; and it is quite inadmis- 
sible in any case, in this position, unless where the tops 
have been severely lightened or mutilated. Others, in 
some of the northern districts of this kingdom, where both 
the soil and climate are extremely propitious, have added 
what they denominate a " heel-beam," 1 8 inches out from 
the axle or cross-bar. But, as it appears, this should 
much rather have been called a fore-beam, as it is placed 
immediately in front of the axle, and next to the draught- 
bar, to which the horses are put. In other words, the 

^' See Hayes' Treatise on Planting, and the Management of Woods, pj). 42- 
47. Also Sect. II. mite. 



196 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



side-stajs are lengthened out, making them between 7 and 8 
feet long, by which means they must often interfere with 
low-spreading branches ; and the position of the axle 
being altered, it causes the frame to project about 18 
inches beyond it. A machine so constructed they call an 
" alleviator,^' but on what principle or analogy does not 
appear very evident. Of this sort of machine I have no 
experience : but I cannot perceive any good reason for 
making such a change so near the centre of gravity, 
which must always be in the axle ; as it seems apparent 
that, in practice, it must make the tree more difficult to 
be drawn down, and more troublesome to be balanced 
during the transportation, thus multiplying instead of 
" alleviating the planter's difficulties. 

SMALL-SIZED MACHINE. 

In conveying to the reader an idea of this and the fol- 
lowing machine, it appears unnecessary to repeat the 
diagram with reduced dimensions, as he will be able, 
without the assistance of the capital letters, readily to 
apply the sizes about to be given to the parts just now 
minutely described, so that he may construct all, or any 
one of the three machines, according to his fancy. The 
description and uses of the different parts of the two 
lesser machines, however, shall be repeated nearly in the 
same terms as above, in order to prevent any intricacy of 
reference from one to another. 

The specification and dimensions of the small-sized 
machine are the following. The pole is only 1 2 feet long, 
(including the iron ring at the point,) Si inches broad, 
and 4 inches thick, tapering to 2i at top. The ring is 
for the purpose of receiving the pole-rope, and is 3 inches 
in diameter. At the top of the pole there is a small 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



197 



bend, 3 inclies off tlie straight, in order to preyent the 
bark from being chafed or stripped off by the ring. 
Under the point of the pole there is a block of iron, with 
rounded edges, 3 inches long by 1 inch thick, and well 
steeled; so that, whenever the point of the pole happens 
to be trailed along the ground, it may withstand the 
friction without injuring the surface. There is likewise 
on one side of the pole a plate of iron, extending from 
within 18 inches of the axle nearly to the top, for strength- 
ening the pole. It is 1^ inch broad, i inch thick, and 
sunk into the wood. This plate, in order to render it 
more powerful, should be in one piece. 

The iron axle is 4i feet long between the washers, 
(exclusive of a head at each end. Hi inches long, which 
is fitted to the bushes of the wheels,) and 2i inches square, 
with a cmwe in the centre of 2 inches, for the sake of 
greater strength. The dust-hoops are 1 inch bi'oad. The 
wooden case or axle-bed is 4 inches broad, and 3 inches 
deep, covering the iron IJ inch, and showing of course 
only 1 inch of it. To the axle-bed are fixed two strong 
hooks, 4 inches long, to which the horse is attached, for 
drawing the machine. 

The two side-stays are each 3 feet 10 inches long, 2i 
inches square, and strongly bolted to the pole. The 
upper stay rests on the first stage, and is 4 feet 4 inches 
long, 2i broad, and 3 inches thick, tapering 2i inches, 
and bolted to the pole in like manner. 

The first stage rises in the centre 2^ inches above the 
axle-bed, and is firmly bolted to it. It is 4 feet 5 inches 
long, 4 inches broad, and 3 inches thick. The second 
stage rises 4i inches above the first, and is bolted to the 
latter. It is also 4 feet 5 inches long, 9 inches broad, 
and 2 inches thick. The third stage rises 4^- inches above 
the second, and is in the same manner bolted to it. It is 



198 



THE planter's guide. 



3 feet 4 inches long, 9 inches broad, and 2 inches thick. 
The third stage is movable at pleasure, and the machine 
is used either with or without it, according to the style 
of the subjects and of the work. On whichever stage 
happens to be uppermost there is fixed a bolstering of 
double mat, filled with hay or straw, 6 inches thick, so 
that no injury can be sustained by the bark of the stem. 

The blocks between the stages are 9 inches long, 2J 
inches broad, and 4J inches deep. The end of the upper 
stay, as it rests on the first stage, shows itself in the end 
view (fig. 3.), like a block in that situation ; and the 
end of the pole has the same appearance from the same 
point, as resting on the axle -bed. Wherever it can be 
done, the bolts used for all of the above purposes are 
sliown in the diagram. 

SMALL-SIZED WHEELS. 

These wheels are 5 feet high, made of the best materials, 
nearly upright, and the dishing only 1 inch. 

The naves are 10 inches long, exclusively of the nave- 
bands, and lOJ inches thick. The spokes are 2^ inches 
broad, and li inch thick ; the fellies 4 inches broad, 
and 11 inch thick • the iron rims i inch thick. As to a 
third wheel, it cannot be necessary for a machine of the 
small size, nor for such trees as are removed by it. 

The weight of this machine, with its wheels, is about 
51 cwt. avoirdupois. 

The above machine, it will be perceived, is far less 
weighty than the foregoing. It is capable of removing 
subjects of from eighteen to about eight-and-twenty feet 
high, and of proportional girth ; and, in fact, a good part 
of my transplanted trees have been removed by means of 
this light and efficient implement. 



THE planter's guide. 



199 



MACHINE OF THE INTERMEDIATE SIZE. 

The pole of this machine is 131 feet long, including 
the iron ring at the point, 4^ inches broad, and 5 inches 
thick, tapering to 3 inches at top. This ring 'is for 
receiving the pole-rope, and is 4 inches in diameter. At 
the top there is a bend 3 inches off the straight, in order 
to prevent any chafing of the bark by the ring. Under 
the point of the pole close to the ring there is a small 
iron block, 3^ inches square. It is rounded at the edges, 
and well steeled, for defending the point of the pole 
when trailing along the ground, and so formed as to 
withstand the friction, and cause little or no injury to 
the surface. There is also on one side of the pole a plate 
of iron, extending from within 18 inches of the axle 
nearly to the top, for the purpose of strengthening the 
pole. It is 2 inches broad, and i inch thick, and is sunk 
into the wood. This, in order to give the greater power, 
should be in one piece. 

The iron axle is 4 feet 9 inches long between the 
washers, and 2i inches square, with a curve in the centre 
of 2 inches, for the sake of greater strength. The wooden 
cover or axle-bed is 4 feet 8 inches long, and 5 inches 
square, covering the iron li inch, and showing only 1 
inch of it. The heads of the axle, to which the bushes of 
the wheels are fitted, are 12 inches long ; and the sand- 
washers are 1 inch broad each. To the axle-bed are 
fixed two strong iron hooks 3 inches long, to which the 
horse or horses are attached, for drawing the machine. 

The two side-stays are 4 feet 2 inches long, 3 inches 
square, and strongly bolted to the pole. The upper stay 
rests on the first stage, and is 4 feet 4 inches long, 3 



200 



THE PLANTEB's GUIDE. 



inclies broad, 3J inches thick, and tapering to 2^ inches 
at the pole, to which it is in like manner bolted. 

The first stage rises in the centre 22 inches, and at the 
sides 6 inches above the axle-bed, and is bolted to it. 
The stage is 4 feet 8 inches long, 5 inches broad, and 3i 
inches thick. The second stage rises 4|- inches above the 
first, and is bolted to the latter. It is 4 feet 8 inches 
long, 9 inches broad, and 2i inches thick. The third 
stage rises 4i inches above the second, and is in the same 
■way bolted to it. It is 3 feet 6 inches long, 9 inches 
broad, and 2 inches thick. The third stage is movable 
at pleasure, and the machine is used either with or with- 
out it, according to the magnitude of the subjects to be 
removed. On the stage, which is uppermost, there is 
always a strong bolstering of double mat, filled with hay 
or straw, 6 inches thick, so that the bark of the stem may 
not be injured by the pressure. 

The blocks between the two uppermost stages are 9 
inches long, 3 inches broad, and 4^ inches thick — that is, 
deep. The end of the upper stay, by resting on the first 
stage, shows itself like a block in the end view of the 
machine (fig. 3. ;) and the end of the pole presents a 
similar appearance when seen in the same manner, as it 
rests upon the axle-bed. Wherever it is possible, the 
bolts used for all of the above purposes are shown in the 
diagram. 

WHEELS OF THE INTERMEDIATE SIZE. 

These wheels are 5 feet 2 inches high, made of the 
best materials, nearly upright, and the dishing only about 
1 inch. 

The naves are lOi inches long, and 11^ inches thick. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



201 



The spokes are 3 inches broad, and li inch thick ; the 
feUies 4 inches broad, and 2 inches thick ; the iron rims 
I inch thick, and in one piece. 

In using a machine like this, it may, on extraordinary 
occasions, be proper to add a third wheel, in which case 
the one above described might answer the purpose. But 
were a third wheel to be made for this particular 
machine, it would be in better proportion at 6 inches 
lower. 

The weiglit of the intermediate machine is considerably 
greater than that of the small-sized one, being about 6f 
cwt. avoirdupois ; and it is calculated for trees of from 
eighteen to more than five-and-thirty feet high. 

For underwood, large shrubs, or the like, of which the 
roots and branches are not extensive, I have sometimes 
made use of a machine still lighter, and more manageable, 
than any of the three above delineated. It consists of 
the pole of the small-sized machine, as already described, 
mounted on a pair of old coach-wheels, from 4 to 4i feet 
high, with one stage only upon the cross-bar. To these 
have been added fellies 4 inches broad, with an iron rim 
i inch thick. Such a machine may be drawn by a small 
pony, and is admirably adapted to light work. Whether 
with or without a horse, it can be conveniently introduced 
into woods and plantations, where a larger implement 
would not be productive of the same despatch, and 
where the latter could not by any means be brought to 
operate. 

As to the taking up of underwood, little needs to be 
said on that head. He who attends to the directions 
above given, for the removal of large trees, will find no 
difficulty with bushes or underwood. Excepting in very 
particular cases, I have not been in the habit of preparing 
them by cutting round their roots. The chief prepara- 



202 



THE planter's guide. 



tion I have given, is to allow them to stand free and open 
in plantations or woods, for a certain period, in order that 
they may acquire that expansion of roots, and that share 
of the other protecting properties, which, according to the 
law of nature, may fit them for the situation which they 
are intended to occupy. As to transplantation, the 
branches of most bushes being tougher and more elastic 
than those of large trees, three or four, or even a 
greater number of plants, can be carried away at one 
time by the smallest machine. It is only for the open 
park that much nicety is required in any part of these 
processes. 

On considering these different machines, the planter 
will find that they possess advantages, not at first sight 
apparent, but which will fully develop themselves in 
practice. The breadth of the stages — which are movable 
at pleasm"e, the shortness of the stays, the curvature of 
the axle, the iron sunk into the pole, &c. ; the position 
of the third wheel, the relative proportions and adapta- 
tions of the different parts to one another — all these tend 
in the most eminent degree to combine lightness with 
strength, and accuracy and despatch with a due preser- 
vation of the roots and branches, during the trans- 
portation. 

It is particularly to be noticed that these implements, 
as well as the trees recommended to be removed by them, 
are of very moderate dimensions, and intended solely for 
the meridian of Scotland. In England, I am aware that 
far larger operations are carried on, and it is possible that 
far greater success may be attained than any we can here 
boast of. But the scale in question is perhaps highly 
enough estimated for a country whose "power, according 
to the philosophical notion of it above mentioned, is 
of such inconsiderable extent. In England, where that 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



203 



power is vast, I had almost said unlimited, a mucli larger 
scale may very properly be adopted. Size of subjects, 
as has been already observed, offers no material impedi- 
ment to successful removal, except increased expenditure. 
If the true principles of the art be once fully established, 
and clearly understood, it will be easy to apply them to 
any scale of operations, from the least to the greatest. 



SECTION IX. 



PLANTING OF THE TEEES IN THEIR NEY/ SITUATION. 

In the foregoing section we haye seen tlie method by 
which the tree is taken up and transported on the 
machine ; let us now follow it to its destination in the 
open park. 

It has been above observed that, for the safety and 
success of the operation, the rate of moving along the 
ground cannot be too slow. At that already pointed out, 
of two miles and a half an hour, the difference between 
travelling a mile, and half a mile, does not very materially 
increase the labour of transportation. If the pit have 
been prepared a twelvemonth beforehand, the opening of 
it now is an easy business ; and for that purpose, should 
it not have been done previously to the taking-up, 
two or three workmen should be sent forward to throw 
out the earth regularly on all sides, to the depth of 
fourteen or fifteen inches at first, leaving, next to the 
inside edge, a space of eighteen inches or two feet clear ; 
so that the excavation can be enlarged, if requisite, with- 
out the necessity of removing the mound thrown up. 

When the machine has got within forty or fifty yards 
of the place, it is proper to halt the horses, in order to 
make two necessary arrangements, the one in which the 
root, and the other in which the top is concerned. The 
director of the work first rapidly measures with his eye 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



205 



the depth of the root, (that is, the thickness of the mass 
of roots and earth together, from the upper part of the 
collar to the under-bed of the roots,) in order to ascertain 
if the excavation be of the proper depth. Supposing the 
depth of the root to be fourteen or fifteen inches, (which 
in a Beech is very supposable,) and the whole depth of 
the prepared soil of the pit to be two feet, then he 
directs the workmen to prepare a bed in the centre 
somewhat deeper, saj three or four inches, to receive 
the tap-roots, should thej be prominent, which with 
the Beech seldom happens ; sloping the pit upwards 
in the cup-fashion, but leaving it at the sides as high 
as before. 

It is a matter of first-rate importance to get the tree 
set in the pit as shallow as possible, and to allow suffi- 
cient pabulum for the downright roots on the one hand, 
and a sufficient cover at top upon the other. If the sub- 
soil be dry, the director may give and take a little in 
making his estimate ; but if it be tenacious of moisture, 
better that you should have a cart-load or two of earth 
to add to the mound afterwards, than that the roots 
should be deprived of the full influence of the sun and 
air by being insufficiently raised up. No stagnation of 
water can ever occur in the prepared soil of the pit, if 
the directions given in the last section, as to judicious 
excavation, be properly apprehended and followed out. 

The second thing he has to advert to is, to ascertain 
the position of the mark previously made upon the stem, 
while the tree stood upright, for designating the side 
where the longest boughs are thrown out, so that, in 
moving towards the pit, such a course may be steered as 
to bring those boughs to the stormy quarter, which 
generally is the west or south-west. Almost all trees, as 
already stated in section IV., are unequally balanced, 



206 



THE PLANTEE's GUIDE. 



and show in their tops more or less of what is called " a 
weather side." This in many cases is a striking defor- 
mity, especially in situations on the western coasts, and is 
often seen to mar the effect of trees otherwise beautiful. 
It proceeds from the tendency, which they generally have, 
to throw out longer and stouter branches on the lee-side, 
and shorter and closer branches and spray on that from 
which the blast assails them. 

By the law of nature we find that, wherever the action 
of the air is the greatest, there the greatest evolution of 
buds appears, and the thickest, but weakest growth of 
boughs and spray takes place. And this difference is so 
remarkable that any one conversant with wood can at 
once point out an old tree (especially a Sycamore) that 
has been more, and one that has been less, exposed, at 
the distance of two or three hundred yards ; and in 
winter, when there is no foliage to conceal the difference 
in the ramification, the thing is the most striking. Hence 
the effect produced on trees, by bringing this decided 
tendency to elongation of the boughs on the lee-side to 
act on the luindward, or deficient side. In fact, it is 
almost the only way in which art can bring about any 
remarkable improvement on the symmetry and beauty of 
the tops of woody plants. It is true, the practice might 
at first sight appear rather a misdirection of the protect- 
ing properties : but experience has shown that nature in 
this, as in the case of judicious pruning, or retrenchment 
of superfluous branches, bears with extraordinary patience 
such discreet control exerted over her exuberant powers, 
and in their subsequent development displays a vigom^ 
even superior to what is observed in subjects which have 
not been so disciplined. I believe, as already noticed, 
that I am the first planter who, more than five-and- 
thirty years since, thought of turning this natural defor- 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



207 



initj to purposes of beauty or utility, in the face of 
prejudices both ancient and modern.'" 

The director having thus ascertained that the mark 
made on the stem is uppermost, (which it will always be 
when not prevented by other circumstances,) he directs 
the driver to make such a circuit as to go right in towards 
the south-east side of the pit ; by which means, as the 
intelligent reader will perceive, the tree being drawn root 
foremost, the marked side will directly face the opposite 
quarter. 

While this arrangement is proceeding, which does not 
occupy above a few moments, two workmen rapidly 
ascertain or fix the exact site of the tree in its . new 
situation, which till now has been marked out only by a 
single stake driven into the ground. This is a still 
speedier process than the foregoing, and is called "setting 
off the tree.'' The two workmen, each with a stake in 
his hand, place themselves in different quarters, about fiye 
or six yards from the pit — the one, we shall say, on the 
north, and the other on the west side — so as to be able to 
describe two lines at right angles with each other, and to 
keep clear of the path or direction of the machine. Then, 
according to the military way of taking objects to move 
upon in the field, they assume the stake in the pit as a 
mutual centre, and some tree, or other object at no great 
distance, as a second object ; and putting down their own 
stakes as a third, they describe a right line with each of 
the three. Thus the two lines marked out by these 
offsets will intersect each other at right angles, or nearly 
so, in the pit, and the point of intersection will be the 
position of the tree. The stake in the pit may then be 
removed for the admission of the machine, and a small 



* See Sect. IV., and Note. 



208 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



piece of greensward put down in its stead, so that the 
tree may be dropped with mathematical precision on the 
spot intended. 

With single trees in the park, this sort of accuracy may 
sometimes be of small moment : but where a particular 
effect is to be produced by one tree, or by the combina- 
tion of several trees as a group, it may be of considerable 
consequence ; and as it takes up only a moment, the 
workmen should always be made to practise it. It tends 
to give them habits of accuracy in their work, and teaches 
them the value and importance of juxtaposition, when it 
becomes necesssary to study it. 

Meanwhile the driver, as directed, makes the proper 
circuit with the horses, (see plate III.,) and brings up the 
machine as nearly as possible to the north-east side of 
the pit, running the wheels up against the bank or 
mound of earth thrown out. Here it is prudent to take 
off the horses, as it is always safer and better to wheel 
in the machine, for the two or three last yards, by 
manual exertion — an object which is readily accomplished 
by cutting down the mound of earth in front of each 
wheel, and thereby forming an inclined plane for the 
descent of the tree into the pit. 

On this occasion it is indispensably necessary that the 
machine should advance right upon the centre, or piece of 
greensward deposited in the pit, but without overrunning 
that point. Two persons, the director and another, then 
station themselves on the outside of the pit, transversely to 
each other — the one, we shall say, on the south-west side, 
opposite the machine, and the other on the north-west or 
south-east side, whichever may be most convenient — 
because the line of sight at both of the last mentioned 
points is equally at right angles with the machine's direc- 
tion. The workman who is placed immediately opposite 



THE PLANTEK's guide. 



209 



the machine now directs the advance of each wheel, or of 
both, as he sees necessary, by which means he is enabled 
to bring tlie root of the tree right upon the centre ; while 
at the same time the director, occupying the transverse 
station, which is the more important of the two, orders a 
halt to be made at the proper moment, (for both cannot 
see the same objects ;) and in this manner the stem is 
brought directly to the centre without being permitted to 
overshoot the mark. Two stakes or stones, or other stays, 
are now put to the wheels, in order to prevent their 
further advancement, and to get every thing in readiness 
for di'opping the tree on the spot intended. These 
arrangements, how complex soevei' they may appear in 
the narrative, are simple in reality, and, barring accidents, 
do not occupy above a few minutes. 

Preparation is now made for dropping the tree into the 
pit. The bundles of roots are every where loosened, and 
the roots freed from the wheels. The cords which con- 
fine the top are removed, and the branches suffered to 
gain their natural position. Meanwhile an active work- 
man is sent to the top, to fix two ropes transversely to 
each other, in order to steady it when set up ; while 
another gets under the axle of the machine, and, bringing 
out the roots of the under side, pulls them right towards 
the rear, in order to save them from being broken by the 
great weight of the descending mass ; when, on a signal 
being given, the steersman and his assistants, together 
with the balancemen, as the case may be, quit their 
stations and their hold of the pole-rope and branches, and 
the tree suddenly rises to the upright position. All this 
may be readily apprehended by considering its actual 
situation on the machine, as represented in plate III. 

If the longest branches have not been accurately 
brought to the stormy quarter, it is now the time to cor- 

0 



210 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



rect that error. The tree, if it be requisite, is again 
pulled down, and the machine wheeled round to the 
proper point ; taking care at the same time, if the root 
be heavy, to ascertain by means of the offsets that it is 
accurately deposited in the centre of the pit. It is then 
allowed to gain the erect position as before. Instead of 
this, should the root be of no great weight, it may be 
turned round on its bottom or under-bed in the pit by 
manual strength, the workmen being careful to lay hold 
of great handfuls of roots and fibres, so that as little 
breakage as possible may take place. When these things 
are accomplished, the bracers of the root and the pole- 
rope are detached from the machine, and it is wheeled 
out of the pit. By common management, howeyer, and 
attention to the directions already given, the whole of the 
above extra labour, which creates considerable delay, may 
be avoided, and the proper aspect for the heavy side of 
the tree obtained at once. All that is necessary in ordi- 
nary cases is, an inspection of the offsets, if great 
accuracy in the position of the tree be wanted. 

We have now arrived at that part of the process of 
planting which, as it is the most difficult to execute, so it 
is also the most difficult to render intelligible to the 
reader. It comprises the whole of the setting up, 
balancing, and supporting the plant ; the distributing of 
the roots in a proper manner in the ground ; and, in a 
word, every other precaution on which its stability and 
success mainly depend. These operations, therefore, 
should never be performed except under the eye of the 
director of the work, who should be every way com- 
petent to superintend them. And here I cannot refrain 
from earnestly recommending it to gentlemen to make 
themselves fully masters of the practice, as well as the 
principles of these various processes, so that they may be 



THE planter's guide. 



211 



enabled to take upon themselves tlie useful office in 
question, as often as it may be conyenient. I need 
scarcely add, that in all rural work the superintending 
eye of the owner furnishes the surest earnest of success, 
especially where any thing like science is united with 
accuracy of execution. 

As soon as the tree is properly placed in respect to 
the position of the branches, and the machine wheeled 
off, the two transverse ropes (which should be ten or 
twelve yards long at least) are instantly stretched out to 
their utmost extent, by putting one or two stout hands 
to each, as the balancing of the tree and setting it 
straight may require. The director has then to settle the 
interesting point of depth, and to determine whether it 
have been rightly judged by the first cursory estimate. 
From what has been said above, it is evident that if the 
tree be set too shallow in the ground, it has this advan- 
tage — that it is tantamount to deepening the soil to the 
extent of the error committed : hence, it is possible to 
remedy the error by bringing earth from some other 
quarter to make up the deficiency. If the tree be set too 
deep, it is without a remedy, unless by planting it over 
again ; which, were the business finished, besides the 
extra labour required, would considerably injure the tree. 
The director, if he have an accurate eye, now determines 
the matter, ere it be too late, at a single glance. Should 
the tree be too deep, he orders it to be pulled half way 
down, first on the one side and then on the other, the 
transverse rope supporting it in the opposite direction. 
While in the heeling position, earth is then mounded on 
either side, as directed above, for raising the tree in the 
pit, and it is soon got up to the height wanted. Should 
it be too shallow, it is in like manner pulled down, and 
lowered by alternate excavation on either side, to the 



212 



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proper deptli, but, whether in the one case or the other, 
without altering the aspect of the tree or the position of 
the branches. 

The next point, and the most important of the whole, 
is to steady and set straight the tree, in order that it 
may please the eye of taste on the one hand, and be 
firmly secured against wind on the other. For this pur- 
pose the first thing to be done is, to separate the work- 
men into divisions of three and three together, as before. 
Of these one workman seizes with both his hands as many 
as he can of the lateral roots, that are long and flexible, 
and, holding them carefully aside, opens a view into the 
under-bed of the roots. The passage being cleared, the 
second workman throws in mould of the finest sort he 
can find, in such a way as to form a bank sloping out- 
wards against the roots so held up, and treads it firmly 
with his feet. He then carefully fills in and equalises all 
the chasms or yacancies that appear ; while the third, 
with a small blunt-pointed stake or rammer, about three 
feet long, pushes in the mould, and makes it firm in the 
cavities which the foot cannot reach. But it is to be 
observed, that the workman who throws in the earth must 
by no means spade it at random. He must patiently 
wait for the co-operation of his two companions ; neither 
hurrying the first, until every visible root is gathered up, 
nor the second, until the earth thrown in has, by decal- 
cation or by the rammer, obtained the utmost compact- 
ness and consistency. 

In thus diligently and firmly bolstering up round the 
nucleus, but yet underneath, and quite clear of the great 
body of the roots and fibres, the different divisions of the 
workmen continue going round the tree until they meet 
one another, forming a sort of circular retaining bank of 
the shape of a china saucer, of which the sides are of the 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



213 



depth of one half at least of the whole nucleus, or mass of 
roots and earth under tlie collar, whatever that maj be, 
so as to compose a bank sufficient to support it. Hence 
the bank raised, if properly executed, will furnish such 
resistance to the action of the top that a stout man, on 
applying himself to the transverse ropes, will find some 
difficulty in displacing the root, even with such a lever as the 
stem must afford him, and sometimes he will be altogether 
unable to displace it. When the resistance is found uni- 
form on all sides — which should be often and carefully 
tried — and particularly on the northeast or lee quarter, 
little more can be done for the stability of the plant. If 
roots of such stiffness and streng-th interfere as cannot be 
put aside during the above process, the best way is to 
bolster and ram them separately underneath, and espe- 
cially at that part where they issue from the nucleus of 
the mass. 

It has been directed in the foregoing section that a 
ball of earth, as large as can be procured round the stem, 
shall always be left undisturbed in the taking up. Should 
the weight not be excessive, and that it can be got to 
extend so as nearly to meet the retaining bank, the work 
may be considered as very perfectly executed ; because 
then no interstitial vacuities will exist in a region of the 
root of all the most liable to suffer from drought, dming 
the first season. Should that prove impossible, from the 
hghtness of the soil or the want of adhesiveness in the 
greensward, mould finely pulverised, and in as dry a state 
as possible, should in large subjects be let fall into such 
vacuities as appear, until, by a repeated supply of the 
mould and water alternately, the interstices be filled up. 
By this mode of management, while the completest solid- 
ity is given to the whole, the finer ramifications of the 



214 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



root round the nucleus are little injured or cramped up, 
notwithstanding the retaining bank. 

While this business is going forward, the director accu- 
rately examines the position of the tree, first on the one 
side and then on the other, from the two offsets, (which is 
tantamount to his making the entire circuit of the tree,) 
and takes care that it be perfectly upright ; making a due 
allowance for any bends or natural sweeps in the outline 
of the stem or top. For accomplishing this, the trans- 
verse ropes, with five or six stout hands put to them, will 
stiU be able to command the tree ; and it is necessary that 
its adjustment be at this time effected, in order to obviate 
the possibility of injuring the roots by dragging, and con- 
sequently displacing them at a later period. By the 
above method of giving stability to the tree, before any 
cover whatever is laid upon the roots, (which I believe is 
new, and peculiar to my practice,) the discerning reader 
will see that a complete safeguard against wind is pro- 
vided, without injury to the growth of the plant. This is 
truly the planting of the tree : all else belongs to the 
distribution, and the covering of the roots. 

The distribution, though secondary in point of con- 
sequence to the securing of them, is a process involving 
much nicety and difficulty, and it is the business of the 
director, in the next place, to attend to its execution. The 
roots having been indiscriminately bundled up in the 
transportation, and merely untied during the fixing of the 
tree, are now, as may be imagined, in a state of great 
disorder, which the process of bolstering up rather tends 
to aggravate than improve. Accordingly, all the work- 
men are employed to disentangle them, and to stretch 
them out in the most regular manner from the centre. 
The tree, as already supposed, being a Beech of more than 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



215 



eiglit-and-twentj feet higli, with a spreading top, the roots 
must be from twelve to fom^teen feet long — at least on the 
side placed to windward — and the minute fibres and capil- 
lary rootlets not fewer than some thousands in number. 
(See plate III.) As soon as they are carefully extricated, 
separated, and as it were combed out with the fingers, so 
as to cover the ground with regularity, and as nearly as 
may be in the same order in which they were taken up, it 
is nature that must teach us how to arrange them in their 
new bed. For this purpose the director disposes the 
workmen in divisions of three and three, as before. Of 
these, one workman immediately divides or separates the 
roots, and prepares to distribute them ; another assists in 
the laying and distribution ; and the third throws in the 
mould in such quantities as the two others stand in need of. 

Whoever examines the beauty and regularity with 
which the boughs and spray of trees, not mechanically 
prevented, are spread out in the air, and reflects that it is 
an accurate transcript of the ramification (if I may so 
speak) of the roots under ground, will admire the remark- 
able analogy that subsists between both of these organs, 
and the uncommon beauty and symmetry of both. The 
former is a matter of daily observation ; the latter falls 
in the way only of gardeners and arboriculturists, but it 
is fully known to every one who has seen and can witness 
the extraordinary effects of the tree-picker at this place. 
To give, in the replanting, any thing like an accurate imi- 
tation of such regular but intricate network, requires no 
ordinary skill and attention in the operators : and yet we 
are aware, as nature orders nothing in vain, that in pro- 
portion as we fail or succeed in this object, we shall attain 
or fall short of the purposes of vegetation, and of giving 
due vigour to the plant. An ingenious friend of mine, 
who some years since was struck with the dexterity of the 



216 



THE PLAKTEK S GUIDE. 



process in the hands of the workmen here, very appro- 
priately called it " the handling" of the roots, and by that 
name it has since been distinguished. 

The two handlers, then, of each division, proceed to 
arrange and distribute the roots in their order, higher or 
lower, as they proceed from the mass or nucleus; stretch- 
ing them out over the bolstering of the nucleus to their 
full length, for which the pit must, if necessary, be enlarged. 
The great principle in this business being to follow nature, 
the roots must, like the branches of trees, be equally spread 
out. Nothing hke crowding or confining must take place, 
but all must have competent spaces in which to extend, 
and ample scope to search for the food of the plant. For 
this purpose the minutest fibres, as well as the strongest 
roots, must be evenly imbedded in the fine mould of the 
pit, neither kneading nor pounding it too firmly, (as re- 
commended by some,) nor leaving what is technically 
called false filling, or interstitial vacuities. But the whole 
must gently consolidate into a mass sufficiently compact, 
yet porous, through which heat as well as moisture, as has 
been abeady observed, may have free access to the fibres, 
and where evaporation may proceed without obstruction. 

To effect such a distribution and ordering of the roots, 
the first thing that the principal handler has to do is, to 
seize with one hand a parcel of the roots, and to divide 
them with the other hand into as many tiers as can con- 
veniently be laid in the depth of the pit, allowing the 
strata of earth between the tiers to be an inch and a half, 
or more, in thickness. He then, in conjunction with his 
assistant, extends the larger roots of the first tier to wide 
distances, stretching out all the minor ramifications and 
rootlets intermediately, in the position' in wliich they 
should lie, so that no one shall, if possible, touch another. 
The handlers having extended these, with their various 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



217 



inflections, to the breadth of six or seven inches, or as far 
as far as their fingers can reach, the coverer immediately 
fixes them down, and secures that space with a Httle fine 
mould, thrown upon it the reverse way — that is, in the 
direction of the points of the fibres ; which mould is 
immediately spread and worked in, by the hands of the 
workmen or handlers, in such a manner as that neither 
the mould can displace the minutest fibres nor exceed the 
thickness of a proper stratum : after which they go 
through the same process with the next tier, and so on 
with the others, till they exhaust the parcel of roots with 
which they began. 

It sometimes happens that masses of roots occur, not 
far from the collar, branching out into small and numerous 
stems of no great length, which it is much more trouble- 
some to deal with. With these the only way is to divide 
them into tiers, and work them in the vertical instead of 
the horizontal position. A quantity of the finest and most 
friable mould must be shaken in among the shortest and 
least extricable fibres of these masses, so that the whole 
may have an opportunity of absorbing nourishment from 
the soil. If the pit be upon uneven ground, and still 
more if on a steep bank, as sometimes happens, it presents 
considerable difficulty to inexperienced planters. In this 
case, especial care must be had to lay the roots in a direc- 
tion corresponding to the slope, level in no part, but 
rising from the centre on the one side and falling from it 
on the other. Hence, when the last tier on each side is 
finished, it has from six to eight inches of cover over it, at 
the general level of the ground. This, on the side of a 
hill of any steepness, it requires considerable skill to 
accomplish, so that the main body of the roots be brought 
within an equal distance from the surface, and receive 
proper benefit from the sun and air. In the manner just 



218 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



now attempted to be described, the workmen, three and 
three together, in divisions or parties, proceed round the 
tree, treating one parcel of roots after another in the same 
style in succession, and as soon as they meet, the work of 
distribution is completed. 

At this stage of the process, it cannot have escaped the 
discerning reader that, contrary to the general practice, no 
decalcation or consoHdating of the earth has as yet been 
directed, except in the execution of the retaining bank 
round the nucleus of the root ; and yet the entire ordering 
of the roots and fibres is supposed to be finished. But 
I have found, by long experience, that an anxiety for 
immediate consolidation, which most planters possess, is 
not favourable to the fibrous roots of woody plants, small 
or great. That equability of pressure of the soil, which 
gradual subsidence alone can give, is not to be attained 
by any artificial means yet known, and least of all by 
treading and pounding by the feet of workmen. It is 
one thing to fill in mould firmly round the nucleus, and to 
compact it with the rammer, as above mentioned, where 
there is free room to operate ; and another to tread down 
with the feet layer after layer of the tenderest fibres, and 
finest capillary rootlets, as recommended by Marshall and 
other — a mode of treatment which cannot fail, after the 
critical period of removal, to be extremely prejudicial to 
what must be considered as the true absorbents of the 
plant. As to the final consolidation of the surface, it 
shall be treated of in the sequel. 

After the covering of the roots, the only thing that 
remains to be performed is, to fill in the rest of the earth 
into the pit, so that at the stem it shall be from twelve to 
fourteen inches deep. If it be winter time, that is, be- 
tween November and February, (in this climate including 
the latter month,) a slight treading over the whole by the 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



219 



workmen is sufficient to bring about gradually, but effec- 
tually, the work of consolidation for the time, and that 
gentle and equable pressure which excludes drought, and 
yet admits of the roots striking freely. If it be spring, 
that is, between February and May, Pontey's useful 
method of pouring on water is adopted, namely, to do it 
(as he says) with " a watering-pan with the rose taken off," 
or with common pails, from the height of five or six feet, 
as soon as the covering of mould is half finished ; dashing 
it down with as much force as possible, in order to wash 
in the mould among the roots of the plant/'* On this, 
the remaining earth is filled in as above, taking care to 
begin with the greensward, if there be any, and hand- 
laying it in regular strata, so as in the greatest degree to 
retain moisture, while it promotes solidity. Another 
plentiful watering is next given in the same way; the 
whole is left for a day to subside; and then, when it will 
bear the workmen's feet, it is ultimately finished by a 
complete decalcation of the surface. I have been the 
more particular in dwelling on this part of the planting, 
as it is a subject not understood by the generality of 
either overseers or workmen. 

It is wonderful what dexterity the workmen will acquire 
in these various processes, by attention and practice under 
an able and active director, particularly in that of dis- 
tributing and ordering the roots. Yet probably the 
greatest difficulty that such a person will experience is to 
get them to perform the handling, and to fill in the mould 
leisurely enough, without haste or confusion, or the slur- 
ring over of any part. He will also find it a difficult 
matter so to arrange the different departments of work 
round the pit as that the whole of the workmen are con- 



* Rural Improver, pp. 88, 89. 



220 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



staiitly carrying forward the business in hand, and that 
the whole never have to wait for what must be done, and 
perhaps oftener than once, by only one or two individuals ; 
such as adjusting the position of the tree, ascertaining the 
depth of the root, disengaging the pole of the machine, 
fixing or loosening the bracing-ropes, and the like, by 
which means much time is often lost, and, of course, 
unnecessary expense incurred. 

In respect to those difficult and important processes, 
the securing of the tree against wind, and the ordering of 
the roots, I sensibly feel the inadequacy of the foregoing 
account of both. In order to be fully apprehended, they 
should be seen in the hands of dexterous workmen, when 
the efficiency of the one, and the beauty and nicety of 
the other, would be fully appreciated. The description, 
as attempted above, is necessarily long, and for that rea- 
son it may seem to many both compHcated and tedious ; 
but the processes themselves are as simple as they are 
effective, as has been acknowledged by all who have ex- 
r amined them at this place. 

Some of the chief advantages attendant on the pre- 
servative system obviously result from this useful method 
of securing, by a kind of cup -like embankment under 
ground, the central mass or nucleus of the root, and render- 
ing the tree steadfast and immovable in spite of the utmost 
violence of the wind, from whatever quarter it may blow. 
The consequence is that the roots, being of great length, and 
consisting of innumerable and minute ramifications, instead 
of being crowded and crammed up in the ordinary man- 
ner, have as good and ample a range of pasturage on the 
fine mould which has been prepared for them as they had 
in their original situations, and in many cases a great deal 
better. What is of most moment of all is, that, from the 
singular steadfastness of the stem, they soon naturaUse 



THE planter's guide. 



221 



themselves to the spot, and go in search of their food, 
without suffering agitation, at a period when an undis- 
turhed state of the fibres affords the best hope of con- 
tinued stabiKtj, and therefore the best earnest of success. 
Thus, what is planted now on this principle gives the 
Immediate Effect of Wood in the present daj, together 
with the best prospect of becoming timber, of as great 
magnitude as the soil and climate will admit, for the suc- 
ceeding generation. 

That the success of park-wood planted here, on the 
system in question, has been extraordinary, will be ad- 
mitted from this fact alone, that although I never prop 
or support a tree after removal, jet not one has been 
blown doiun in this parh, in the course of thirty years: 
and as to deaths, one in from forty to forty-five being 
the average number^ contingency may in some sort be 
said to be excluded fi^om an art which has, in all ages, 
been proverbially unsuccessful and fortuitous. 

As to the taking-up and transporting of trees and 
underwood for close plantations, the very same directions 
may be given for them as for park-wood, only that far 
less care and nicety are necessary in the management of 
the former, far fewer and shorter roots and branches, and 
in a word, the possession of the non-protecting, instead of 
the protecting properties. In respect to underwood for 
such plantations, as they are wholly out of the reach of 
sheep and cattle, perhaps something may be done towards 
giving a greater variety of effect to it than has usually 
been attempted for ornamental purposes, especially on 
the sides of walks, approaches, and the hke. 

Underwood or bushes, being thick shrubby plants of 
low growth, from four to ten feet high, are procured in 
Yarious ways, but chiefly by selecting such plants as grow .i 



222 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



in this style in AYOods and plantations ; or by heading 
down or cutting over trees of any sort that stole, or shoot 
out again after being cut. In the way last mentioned, 
bushes may be formed of any species, as of Oak, Elm, 
Chestnut, and the like, and of which the growth or foliage 
best suits the views of the planter. But in default of 
these, and for the purpose of procuring immediate effect, 
I have practised a new method, which it may be worth 
while to lay before the reader. This method I have 
called the composing of copsewood," by which we cer- 
tainly have it in our power to command as well as to 
compose it. 

By the composing of copsewood, I mean the making 
up into one set or stool separate plants of the same 
species, from three to four or five in number, and in that 
process combining the high and the low, the spreading 
and the spiral, the straight and the crooked, in one 
pleasing group or assemblage. With a little practice, 
guided by any tiling like taste and judgment, bushes and 
stools of copsewood may be thus composed, not only 
naturally and beautifully, but sometimes they may turn 
out more beautiful than what are found in nature. This 
is on the same principle of selection that is adopted by 
the painter, when he assembles many separate beauties in 
one design, and thereby excels the beauty of any existing 
individual of the same species. 

The materials of these compounds generally occur in 
young plantations of seven or eight years^ growth, or 
more, in which the plants have not been overshadowed, 
or unduly drawn up, but have had some room to expand. 
The art lies in properly working up these, so as to pro- 
duce various effects ; and chiefly in studying good con- 
trasts — in letting the principal members of your group be 



THE PLAKTER's GUIDE. 



223 



tall and stemmy, while the accessories are low and spread- 
ing ; and, in a word, in so blending the whole as to attain 
at once gracefulness and variety. 

The two plants first put into the ground should be set 
somewhat deeper than the others, and nearly upright. 
The two or three next should have their roots crossed 
over to the opposite sides of the pit in which they are 
planted, so as to give them such an inclination outwards 
as if they naturally sprang, in opposite directions, from 
one centre or stem, which had been headed down. This, 
if skillfully executed, will in a surprising degree promote 
verisimilitude. And in order to give the last finish to 
the group, small plants may here and there be set in, or 
redundant branches pruned away, that unnaturally cross 
or destroy the leading character of the ramification. But 
as the business of composing copse is to make a practical 
use of nature's own colours, it is as impossible minutely 
to direct the work as to direct the painter who copies 
her in giving the minutest touches of his pencil. One 
rule more I may in a general way suggest, and that is, 
never to overload the groups — never copying nature in 
her richer masses, but rather in her more simple combi- 
nations of foliage. In this, as in all other departments, 
in which art is called in to the aid of nature, those effbrts 
will always seem the happiest, and please the longest, 
where ornament is kept down, and where it is made sub- 
servient to the severer graces of composition. 



In this, and the foregoing two sections, I have now 
given as clear an account as I could of the Peeparing, 
Taking-up, Transporting, and Planting of large trees 



224 



THE planter's guide. 



and underwood. From the novelty of the subject, and 
the difficulty of making manual operations intelligible by 
words, the whole account has, unavoidably, been drawn 
more into leng^th than might have been expected. Some 
apology, therefore, on the score of tediousness and cir- 
cumstantial detail, is due to those who may open the 
book from mere curiosity. To those, on the other hand, 
who read for information, and whose object is real prac- 
tice, the case is considerably different, as they perhaps 
may be of opinion that the detail, long as it is, has not 
been given circumstantially enough. 



SECTION X. 



TREATMENT OF THE TREES SUBSEQUENTLY TO REMOVAL. 

It is with the removal of large trees, as with the exe- 
cution of ordinary plantations. As soon as the plants 
are fairly put into the ground, the planter usually con- 
ceives his labour to be at an end, and that all after cul- 
tivation is supererogatory or superfluous. This, although 
a common, is a very pernicious error, and is not less 
injurious in its effects in the one case than in the other. 
Perhaps there is nothing in the course of this treatise 
that is calculated to be more interesting, or more prac- 
tically useful to the young planter, than what is to be 
stated respecting afterwork in the few following pages. 

In the foregoing three sections, the preparing and 
taking-up, the transportation and planting have been 
treated as applicable, first, to single trees and open dis- 
positions of wood ; and secondly, to close plantations : 
therefore, in pointing out the afterwork, the same order 
shall be followed, beginning as before with the former 
department. 

First, as to open dispositions of wood. The end of 
April, or beginning of May, as soon as the removal of the 
last trees of the year (usually the Lime, the Horse-chest- 
nut, and the Oak) is over, is the time to examine the 
whole, and see how they stand as to covering for the 

p 



226 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



roots. For that purpose, after trying various substances, 
I have found nothing so completely efficacious as the 
refuse of a flax-mill, called in this part of the country, 
" shows,'' which, when they accumulate in the mill-yard, 
are generally thrown into the river, and carried away by 
the next flood. During the scutching season, which 
commences in autumn, and extends frequently to the 
following spring, it is prudent to lay in a stock of shows, 
sufficient for the extent of your work ; and by stacking 
them up in a dry state, they will not heat, but keep well 
for nearly a twelvemonth. In parts of the country where 
there are no flaxmills, and where shows consequently 
cannot be procured, I should recommend moss {Scottice 
fog,) which is every where to be had, and is the best 
succedaneum. 

But before this valuable covering is applied, it is 
expedient, with late-planted trees, to go over the entire 
surface of the pit with a wooden beater, made in the 
fashion of the beater used by paviers, but greatly larger, 
ten or twelve inches broad at bottom, and furnished with 
a double handle, in order that two men may work it. In 
working the beater, it must be raised as high as three feet 
or more from the ground, so as to descend with the utmost 
force on the loose mould of the surface ; which surprising- 
ly promotes consolidation, and by consequence the reten- 
tion of moisture. For all trees, however, this mode of 
consolidating is not essentially necessary ; neither is it 
indispensable for such as are planted early ; but with the 
Beech, the Oak, the Birch, and such others as are most 
sensitive of drought, it acts as a powerful preservative 
during the first season : and as it is at the nucleus of the 
root, immediately under the collar, that the fatal efi'ects 
of drought are most to be apprehended, so it becomes the 

* Note I. 



THE planter's guide. 



227 



more important to provide the best mode of protection 
in that quarter. 

It was directed in the last section, that on the planting 
being finished, the coyer of earth at the stem should be 
from a foot to fourteen inches deep, and at the extremity 
of the roots from six to eight inches. If by subsidence or 
the beater, somewhat should be lost of those dimensions, 
it is now proper to supply them. The next thing to be 
done is to level and dress the surface, and prepare it for 
grass-seeds. Supposing the tree to stand, as often 
happens, upon a mound or hillock forced up by the earth 
or compost, which has been added to the original soil, the 
handsomest way of uniting it with the ground is, first to 
flatten it a little at top, and then to shape the mound in 
the fashion of the Ogee in architecture, a well-known 
figure, consisting of a round and a hollow : for it is accor- 
ding to that pleasing figure, or some modification of it, 
that the most beautiful and elegant forms in nature, 
whether animate or inanimate, (for example in the female 
figure,) are always found to be fashioned : in fact, they 
are the forms on which every eye delights to dwell, and 
every artist is studious to introduce into his works. 

In wooding a new, or improving an old place, by means 
of the transplanting machine, it is to be observed, that on 
the sides of approaches, or other principal parts of the 
grounds, where fore-ground trees are scattered with pro- 
fusion, it is of some importance that these hiUocks should 
always appear easy and natural swells, which helong to 
the ground on which they have been superinduced. Above 
all things, they should be well "tailed out,'' as the work- 
men call it, beyond the dimensions of the pit, letting their 
hard outline imperceptibly disappear, and as it were die 
away in the outline of the adjoining surface. This is a 
business which good taste suggests, and a good eye will 



228 



THE PLANTEE's GUIDE. 



readily direct. These hillocks, if handsomely shaped, 
give dignity to the trees that crown their summits, instead 
of seeming artificial and unsightly protuberances. 

For this purpose, the director of the work should take 
a view of the surface on every side, at ten or fifteen paces 
off* as the work proceeds, and there give his orders for the 
execution, which will also strikingly expedite the labour 
of finishing. As soon as the figure pleases the eye from 
every side, the shows are put on round the stem, and 
nearly two yards out from it (that is, for trees of five-and- 
twenty and thirty feet high,) to the thickness of six inches 
at the centre, and four at the extremities ; beating down 
the shows with the spade, to prevent the wind from taking 
hold of them ; after which, they will soon consolidate, and 
completely exclude drought. The grass-seeds are then 
sown and raked in, over the remainder of the prepared 
surface, and of more than ordinary thickness ; and these, 
on the roller being passed over them, will rapidly spring 
up and greatly assist in retaining moisture. To turf such 
considerable spaces, as is done by some, would be an 
intolerable labour, without being either so effective or so 
handsome in the execution. 

By the above directions it is not meant that the shows 
shall remain longer on the surface than during the first 
season. No tree, treated according to the preservative 
system, is known to die after the first year, if during that 
year it carry a healthy though small leaf, the Oak and the 
Beech perhaps excepted : which two species (from causes 
not yet fully ascertained, but probably owing to a peculiar 
sensitiveness of drought) sometimes fail in the second year. 
In the course of the second year, then, the circular spaces 
round the stem, which have been covered with shows, are 
to be lightly pointed over with the spade, and kept with 
the hoe for four or five years until the trees shoot freely. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



229 



It would be extremely injudicious to allow the spade to 
be used at all after the first season ; as the minute and 
capillary absorbents of the root immediately rise to the 
surface, and must suffer more or less even from the hoe, 
whatever caution may be employed. In respect to the 
Oak and the Beech, it would be prudent to allow the 
shows to remain upon those trees for two years complete, 
and delay all stirring of the earth round them until the 
third summer. 

The shows used for this sort of work are generally the 
short kind, the longer sort being reserved for the roofs of 
houses in this district of the country. The former kind 
after one year, and still more after two years, greatly 
decays. By the second summer, when dug down as 
directed above, they will serve to open and meliorate a 
clayey or loamy soil. Should the land be very light, they 
may be thrown off previously to the pointing with the 
spade. 

As the stirring of the mould round newly planted trees 
is more or less injurious, as just now stated, to the minute 
and capillary rootlets, there is another way, in which I 
have sometimes treated trees, and which it may be worth 
while to mention in this place. By those planters who 
have large designs to execute, it may be considered as less 
laborious than hoeing round the plants for several years ; 
and to others, whose taste has been formed on the works 
of the great masters of landscape, and who for that reason 
would reject whatever seems frittered into detail, or what 
they might term spotty in the picture, the appearance of 
circular hoed spaces round trees might at all events be 
displeasing. To such planters I would recommend, when 
the shows are no longer necessary, instead of pointing 
over these spaces with the spade, immediately to sow them 
down with grass seeds, that is, after the first or second 



230 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



season, according to tlie species of the trees planted. As 
soon as they are properly established in the ground, which, 
situation and circumstances considered, may be by the 
fourth, or fifth, or sixth year, a top-dressing should be 
applied, consisting of earth and coal-ashes, such as has 
been described at p. 217, of which the ingredients are 
thoroughly mixed, and the surface should then be ulti- 
mately laid down with grass seeds. Thus a general 
chemical action being excited throughout the compost, the 
most propitious period will be seized for giying an extra- 
ordinary stimulus to plants just recovering from the process 
of removal ; and there are few trees so treated, that from 
thenceforward will not begin to shoot forth with a vigour 
which the most sanguine planter could scarcely have 
anticipated. 

The next object, after attending to their cover, is to 
secure the trees against injury from sheep and cattle. 
That rubbing, by either the one or the other, can affect 
the stability of trees, or in any wise displace them, after 
being planted in the manner described above, is out of the 
question. But there is in the coats of those animals an 
oily substance, which by continual friction is apt to stop 
up the minute pores of the bark, and prevent the admis- 
sion of the sun and air, before the epidermis has had time 
to be fortified by age and exposure against its influence. 
Without entering into the ingenious speculations of 
Marsham, who found that repeated washings surprisingly 
forwarded the growth of all woody plants, we are warranted 
in believing, that those owners of parks who continue to 
defend their trees after sixty and seventy years' growth 
(and there are some persons who incur that labour) per- 
form a work of supererogation : at all events, it is a work 
of considerable expense and of very little utility. 

The best, the most pleasing, and in many situations 



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231 



tlie most profitable stock for a park consisting of forty or 
fifty acres and upwards, is unquestionably sheep. Sheep 
love a wide range of pasturage, and are not found fully to 
thrive, or to be kept with facility, within a less extensive 
circuit than the one just now specified. Unless your 
wood be of considerable age, deer, independently of the 
great difficulty of restraining them, prove extremely 
troublesome ; and black cattle and horses, from their 
height and uncommon fondness for the tender shoots of 
most woody plants, would shockingly disfigure the gene- 
rahty of removed trees, of which the efibct chiefly results 
from the beauty of their spreading boughs, at from about 
four to seven and eight feet from the ground. The 
browsing-line of the blackfaced sheep seldom reaches to 
more than three, or three feet and a half, above the sur- 
face ; a height which gives lightness rather than other- 
wise to park scenery, while the formality which the 
browsing-line is thought to occasion is very easily done 
away by any one acquainted with the commonest arrange- 
ments in real landscape. To protect trees efi<ectually, 
however, from the rubbing of sheep, is a work which we 
seldom see well executed ; because, to do it well, both 
neatness and utility should be combined in the execution. 

The guards generally in use for protecting trees are 
well known — hurdles and cordage of different kinds ; 
three-cornered, four-cornered, and circular pahngs, and 
the like ; black or white-thorn branches ; wrappings of 
straw or mat, and even of painted sailcloth, have been all 
employed on various occasions. Of these contrivances, 
the thorns are injurious to the wool of the sheep, and the 
different wrappings to the trees ; and both act in exclud- 
ing the sun and air from the stem. In respect to the 
hurdles and palings, they appear always cumbersome, and, 
if numerous, form too prominent a feature in a park. 



232 



THE planter's guide. 



When a man, however, has planted his lawn with trees 
like his thumb, or at most like his wrist in thickness, he 
is apt to fancy that he has covered the smface with fine 
wood, when he has only disfigm^ed it with hedgestakes 
and railings, which are at least as unsightly to behold as 
they are expensive to keep up, and show a complete 
absence of both taste and skill. The example which has 
been quoted in Section V., of the effect of this sort of 
wooding, by no means presents an overcharged picture of 
the system. 

Perhaps the most perfect of all guards would be an 
iron collar of about an inch and a half broad with a 
hinge in the middle of it ; together with sharp-pointed 
uprights of the same material, three feet thi^ee inches 
high, and three quarters of an inch in thickness, for run- 
ning into the ground. The uprights might be placed 
about two inches asunder ; and to the whole might be 
added a hasp, with notches in the collar, in order to ac- 
commodate it to the progressive enlargement of the stem. 
But the expense of such an apparatus, for trees of moder- 
ate size, including painting of the colour of the bark, could 
not be less than from twelve to fifteen shillings each, 
which would completely preclude its general adoption. 
A guard, therefore, which shoidd be at once neat, cheap, 
and durable, seems still to be a desideratum in park 
economy. 

There being between seven and eight hundred trans- 
planted trees and bushes in loose dispositions in the park 
here, it was necessary to construct something less hideous 
and less costly than seven or eight hundred hurdles or 
pahngs of four feet square ; as no featm^es of landscape 
nor richness of fohage could have redeemed so over- 
whelming a deformity. In Plate II. the reader will find 
the delineation of such a guard for a park tree as has 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



233 



been for several years adopted at this place ; and it is 
recommended not less by its neatness than by its unob- 
trnsiyeness and efficiency. The trifling expense, likewise, 
which attends it is of no small importance in situations 
where any considerable number of trees stand in need of 
protection. 

This guard is composed of stakes of larch-wood made 
like hedgestakes, but somewhat lighter and neater. They 
are about three feet three inches long, and six or seven 
inches in girth at the larger end. They are flattened at 
the smaller end to the thickness of about three quarters 
of an inch, for applying closely to the tree, and pointed 
at the larger for driving into the ground. The workmen, 
in setting them up, drive them into the ground four or 
five inches out from the stem, and three asunder. The 
tops being flat and about two inches broad, they unite 
in a neat manner round the stem, when pressed to it 
and firmly bound round with marline, half-twisted and 
pitched, such as is used on board a ship to secure the 
ends of the cables. A small piece of doubled mat, fom- 
inches broad, is previously put between the tops of the 
stakes and the stem, in order to prevent chafing. As 
soon as this ring or hempen collar is put on, the work- 
man who fixes it proceeds to connect it with the bracer 
at the centre, drawing the end of the marline half-way 
down between the top of the stakes and the ground, and 
making it fast to one of the stakes. From thence he 
passes it loosely round the whole, taking a turn round 
each stake, until he arrives at the point where he began. 
He then pulls it tight, and fixes it firmly at that point ; 
adding another line of connexion on the opposite side, 
between the collar and the centre-bracer last finished. 
For this work it has been found more economical to use 
double than single marline of the common size ; as also 



234 



THE planter's guide. 



to employ two workmen, if expert at the business, rather 
than one ; as two will do it better and more speedily, in 
proportion to the time they are employed. 

Thns it will be perceived, that a guard for trees of the 
firmest sort is procured, and such as will last for nine or 
ten years, with occasional repairs of the marline ; which 
last, as it suffers by contraction and expansion and the 
continual rubbing of the sheep, should, after the first 
year, be gone oyer two or three times during the summer, 
and kept in good order. If the larger ends of the 
stakes (at which place they always fail) be dipped in 
coal-tar, brought to the state of half pitch, they will last 
from twelve to fifteen years. By driving the stakes a 
little w^ay out from the tree, as above dii'ected, the tallest 
blackfaced sheep (and no epicm-e in mutton will ever 
keep any other stock) are forced to rub near the centre 
of the stake where the fence is the stoutest. The bark 
likewise being covered in no part, excepting at the top of 
the fence by the small bit of mat, receives sufficient 
benefit from the sun and air. 

The entire cost of this guard, materials and workman- 
ship, does not exceed sixpence per tree, reckoning ten 
stakes as the average number required for each. Hence 
it is an effective as well as an economical mode of defence, 
and, I may add, a neat one also. To the most fastidious 
eye, the effect produced by it is neither heavy nor dis- 
pleasing, as the hue of the stakes in a few days suffi- 
ciently harmonises with that of the bark ; and so far from 
appearing a deformity, it is, as has been observed above, 
quite unobtrusive, and is nearly invisible at fifty yards' 
distance. 

As the season advances, and the drought of summer 
sets in, the watering of the trees planted in the spring 
and the preceding winter next claims attention. About 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



235 



tlie end of May, or beginning of Jnne, when no refresh- 
ing showers have fallen for a week, is the time to put 
in requisition the water-cart, and to endeavour to supply 
by artificial means that degree of moisture which, after 
the first year is over, a more advanced state of consoli- 
dation enables the soil to retain. There is scarcely an 
instance of a tree, if properly removed, requiring water in 
the second year, excepting perhaps the Oak, when it fails 
to come out freely in June ; but even in that case it is 
quite unnecessary to repeat the operation beyond the 
month in question. 

The water-cart is a very simple implement, being 
merely an open cart with broad wheels, having a large 
barrel or hogshead mounted on it (an old wine-pipe 
answers the purpose admirably ;) and there are super- 
added a spreading mouth at the bunghole, for filling the 
cask, and a large brass cock below, for drawing off the 
water. The best time for dispensing this refreshing 
element is unquestionably the evening, as little or no 
evaporation takes place during the night ; but in works 
of any extent it is not possible always to time it with 
accm^acy. A single workman, with a couple of stable- 
pails, attends the driver of the cart, and both assist in 
drawing off and distributing the water. In executing 
this, they cannot pour it on too leisurely, equally drib- 
bling it out over the surface of the pit and to the full 
extent of the roots, but most copiously near the stem and 
on the nucleus of the root. Four or five pails, which 
contain sixteen or eighteen quarts each, are sufiicient at a 
time, for a tree from five-and-twenty to thirty feet high ; 
and the operation is repeated every fourth day while 
drought continues. It is an easy matter to overwater 
plants, for example the Beech ; an error by which 
removed trees sometimes suffer when they might other- 



236 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



wise have succeeded, and of which 1 have seen more than 
one instance in the present year, 1827. 

On some occasions I have attempted the watering of 
entire plants, branches as well as roots, with a good 
garden-engine ; hj which means it was easy to throw the 
water in copious showers to the tops of our highest trees. 
But no benefit adequate to the labour was found to result 
from it. The absorption of dew by the leaves, even in 
the driest season, added to an absorption by the roots in 
consequence of abundant waterings, appears quite adequate 
to continue vegetation during the critical period of the 
first summer. If the introsusception of their food by the 
roots is not prevented from going forward, there seems 
little danger in the other parts of the process. 

Gardeners usually recommend that all artificial water- 
ings should be performed with the watering-pan, as more 
accurately imitating the genial rains as they descend from 
the clouds. That this is a superior method cannot be 
doubted, and for the nicer business of horticulture, it may 
in many cases be indispensable. But in field practice, 
which is often less delicate, and far more extensive, des- 
patch is so vast an object, that such implements as the 
watering-pan are quite inadmissible. As a proof in how 
far our field practice has been successful, it may be stated, 
that during last summer, (1826,) when the severity as 
well as the continuance of the drought was, it is beheved, 
beyond all example, oiily one removed tree in more than 
a hundred died at this place, although several bushes 
failed, and particularly of the evergreen species ; and to 
this it may be added, as a very striking circumstance, 
that more than three-fourths of the number were Beeches 
and Oaks ! For such extraordinary success, in restoring 
and continuing vegetation after removal, I chiefly account, 
from the care and regularity with which the water was 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



237 



distributed, and the valuable discovery, that so cheap and 
common a substance as shows has the property of 
excluding air, and retaining moisture, and is, by conse- 
quence, the best safeguard against the effects of drought. 

The next branch of afterwork that requires considera- 
tion is a very important one, and that is the maintenance 
of the trees in a state of progressive vigour after being 
planted : and as there are few subjects in arboricultural 
economy that appear to be less understood, I shall the 
more particularly enlarge upon it. 

It has been already observed, that no experienced 
planter expects his removed trees to shoot freely until 
they have been fairly established in the ground ; and that 
is a circumstance which must be regulated by soil and 
climate, by scientific planting and previous selection. It 
is true, according to the system now attempted to be 
established, they will carry a full leaf after the first, or 
at all events after the second season ; and as they are 
preserved entire in all their parts, they will produce the 
full efi'ect of trees which have never been removed ; still, 
it is not until the fourth or fifth year, or more, that 
shoots of any consequence can be expected. With par- 
ticular trees, however, this expectation is not always 
fulfilled ; and it sometimes happens, when the process of 
removal has been conducted in the best manner and on 
the best soil, when the sun has shone, and the rains have 
descended most favourably on the plants, that six, and 
seven, and a greater number of years will elapse, without 
any decided proofs of advancement. Not but that they 
seem sufficiently healthy and continue to groiv; but we 
want something more ; we expect them to thrive in their 
new situations. This backwardness in trees, as it 
appears, is confined for the most part to such as are 
planted in exposed situations : heat and shelter being its 



238 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



cure or preventive, it is seldom seen in close planta- 
tions. 

For such exceptions to general success, it is not easy 
to account, especially in cases where our subjects are in 
the full possession of the protecting properties, parti- 
cularly that of competent and healthy roots : but it is 
certain that such exceptions occasionally occur with 
almost every sort of tree, even the hardiest, and those 
the least sensitive of drought. It is, moreover, a remark- 
able fact, that I have sometimes found those plants of the 
late or aboriginal Oak (the hardiest of all that genus) 
thrive the best which had the worst roots, — that is, the 
fewest in proportion to the top. The truth is, that 
vegetable physiology is in itself an obscure subject ; and 
although many important facts respecting it are known 
and ascertained by microscopical observation and careful 
study, yet probably so many still remain to be discovered, 
that it is impossible to suggest a satisfactory theory for 
every anomaly that occurs in practice. But in the parti- 
cular instance above mentioned — namely, occasional back- 
wardness in the growth of trees, when least expected — if 
no theory should be found to account for it, there seems 
yet a certain remedy for the evil which experience has 
pointed out. 

If a tree appearing backward be from five-and-twenty 
to thirty feet high, and of girth in proportion, let four 
cart-loads of tolerable earth be taken, of a quality rather 
opposite than similar to that on which it has been planted, 
— that is, for light soil, of the aluminous, and for heavy, 
of the silicious character ; to which let a cart-load of coal- 
ashes be added, with the rough cinders carefully riddled 
out. Let the whole be laid round the tree, and very 
intimately mixed in the manner above pointed out for 
extra earth and compost, and particularly when made up 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



239 



witli manure of this species/"' Then, let the composition 
be spread on the smface, from the centre outwards, nine 
inches thick at least at the stem or centre, and five or six 
at the extremities ; by which means, probably, a space of 
six or eight feet out will be richly coated. Or, if you can 
easily supply the materials, it would be better to coat it 
ten or twelve feet out. Lastly, let the composition be 
carefully pointed with the spade, between two and three 
inches deep, (which is the depth of ordinary hoeing,) into 
the former soil, round the plant. The sooner after the 
fall that this work can be executed, the more confidently 
you may rely on its effects dm^ng the following season. 

Into materials so compounded, the minutest fibres, or 
absorbents of the roots, will enter with avidity on the 
first approach of the genial heat of spring ; or possibly 
the fine and friable nature of the composition may occa- 
sion an anticipation of the period. The season of verna- 
tion ere long will come on, the leaves will be enlarged, 
and assume a far deeper and more lively green. By 
midsummer the tree will have shot some inches ; and, by 
the following season, probably more than a foot ; and it 
will continue to exhibit both established health and pro- 
gi'essive vigour. 

About every house in the country there is a place 
appropriated for collecting the ashes ; I mean, of course, 
coal-ashes. To that deposit are usually added soot, 
sweepings of houses, and other miscellaneous manures 
from the kitchen -cornet, all well adapted to the purpose in 
question ; and the whole should be exclusively reserved 
for trees by the judicious planter. Great attention, like- 
wise, should be bestowed in separating the cinders from 
the ashes wlien the latter are first thrown out, and in a 



* See pages 162, 163, antea. 



240 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



dry state, as the cinders are of little value and injurious 
to the roots of plants. 

No one, who has not seen it, will easily belieye the 
surprising effect which this compound produces on park- 
wood some time removed, and to the most exposed 
situations, if it chance to be in a backward condition, and 
by thus merely adding to the surface, and thereby 
enlarging the pabulum of the trees. I rather imagine 
that the process is peculiar to my own practice : but, be 
that as it may, I have repeatedly tried it on all sorts of 
subjects, young and old, removed and unremoved, that 
seemed to be backward or stationary in their progress, 
and its vivifying powers have proved extraordinary in 
every instance. It is, however, to be observed, that in 
the case of old trees, as there is a complete exhaustion of 
the original soil around them, so a much larger mass of 
fresh matter must be superinduced upon it. A tree of 
three or four feet in diameter would require twenty cart- 
loads at least, in order that any material renovation of 
its strength might be effected ; and few men, I think, 
would grudge so small an expense and labour to save or 
improve a favourite tree. 

The practice of gardeners, I am avfare, is considerably 
different from this. If they find their trees in any wise 
unprosperous, their usual resource is to stir the earth 
among the roots, instead of leaving them undisturbed, 
and to dig in well-rotted dung, or rather manure ; and it 
is to be presumed, that, in their management of park- 
wood, they would pursue a similar system. In favour of 
such a practice, in the horticultural department, some- 
thing may be said ; because the great depth of soil in 
garden-ground admits of the roots of fruit-trees descend- 
ing far deeper than can be expected in the park ; not to 
mention the advantage of cultivating leguminous crops on 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



241 



the surface. But I am satisfied, were the fruit borders 
in gardens, and especially in orchards, to be left undis- 
turbed, unless by the hoe, and were the extension or 
improYement of pabulum for the roots to be made upon 
the surface, as just now directed, that the effects would 
be not less surprising than those which I myself have 
experienced.''^' 

There is another remedy, which I have sometimes 
tried, for backwardness in the growth of trees, and which, 
although I cannot recommend it with the same confidence 
as the above panacean compound, (if I may so call it,) is 
yet deserving of the reader's notice. It consists of the 
juice or moisture proceeding from the dunghill, which, 
being collected in a well or pit, is pumped up into the 
water-cart ; and it is frequently used for decomposing 
peat, or manuring grass-grounds in the spring. When 
intended for trees, damp weather, or immediately after 
rain, is the time for applying it, on account of the 
quantity of ammonia in different forms, and the various 
salts which it contains. It is poured on in the same 
slow and gradual way as directed for the water, but in 
not more than half the quantity at a time. 

As this liquid may be considered as the extract of the 
most useful vegetable and animal manures, with a strong 
infusion of urine in a putrid state, so it has probably in 
its composition too much animal matter to form a proper 
nourishment, by absorption, for the roots of woody plants. 
All urine contains the essential elements of vegetables in 
a state of solution. L uring putrefaction, a great part of 
the soluble animal matter is destroyed ; therefore, it is 
proper always to use it in as fresh a state as possible ; 
or otherwise, to dilute it copiously with water, to which a 

* Note IL 

Q 



242 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



moist state of the ground, or the water which falls into 
the pit, as above, will contribute. When managed, how- 
ever, in the most careful manner, this liquid rather dis- 
appointed me in its effects on trees, and I should far 
rather prefer the excellent compound already described.*"* 

In regard to backwardness in trees, as the subject is 
not only curious in itself, but of great moment to the 
general planter, as well as to him who removes larger 
trees, perhaps a few remarks on the causes in which it 
originates may not be inappropriate in this place, and 
prove interesting to both. 

From what has been observed of this evil, it appears 
that it exists in a remarkable manner only among exposed 
plants, and that heat resulting from shelter in most cases 
furnishes a complete preventive. In considering the nature 
and habits of woody plants, we find that the warmer the 
atmosphere in which they grow, the more active the vege- 
tation that is carried on in them, and consequently the 
greater the deposition of nutrient matter that is made in 
the bodies of the plants. Our object, therefore, should be, 
after their removal to colder or more exposed situations, 
so to increase, by artificial methods, the action of their 
vegetative powers, as to compensate to the required extent 
for the absence of heat ; and should that not be done 
sufficiently in the beginning, to augment it afterwards. 
This important principle was stated above, in the instruc- 
tions given for the preparation of the soil, but not suf- 
ficiently illustrated under that head.f 

It is on this principle, that the application of the rich 
and friable compound above mentioned is made with such 
extraordinary eflPect. If we administer it to two park 
trees of the same species, and of equal size and strength, 



* Note HI. 



t See Sect. VI. pp. 144, 145. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



243 



but placed in different degrees of exposure, in equal 
quantities, the slioots wliich the trees send forth will not 
be in the ratio of the compound applied, but in the ratio 
of the exposure. In the same way, if we apply the one 
half of the compound to a park tree comparatively 
sheltered, and double the quantity, or more, to a similar 
tree severely exposed, the shoots which are sent forth by 
the former will be fully equal to those sent forth by the 
latter. Thus the uniform but relative success attending 
this practice demonstrates the justness of the principle. 

But what shall we say to the case, which frequently 
occurs, of two trees to all appearance equally formed and 
circumstanced, and yet unequal in their progress ; or, more 
properly speaking, of which the one is progressive, and 
the other visibly stationary As there can be no effect 
without an adequate cause, so we are compelled to believe, 
that such plants are either different from what they appear 
in their internal development, or that their development 
is differently acted on by its external conditions, otherwise 
we should unquestionably perceive the same results. 
From what we know of the uncertain and anomalous 
practices of planters, there are various circumstances 
respecting removed trees that may possibly be regarded 
either as proximate or efficient causes of their ill success, 
or at least of their appearing stationary, when, as we 
imagine, we have done every thing in our power to render 
them progressive. These circumstances or causes are 
probably the following : 

First, an unsuitable or inappropriate soil or subsoil. 
There are certain soils on which all trees will thrive ; and 
there are certain other soils on which particular trees will 
not thrive, according to their particular properties, and 
the law of nature that regulates their species. As nine 
planters in ten are unable to discriminate regarding plants 



244 



THE PLANTEE's GUIDE. 



and soils, and make the proper selection, so it must 
happen that trees often fail of success wholly from this 
circimistance. 

The second cause seems to be defective roots. Roots, 
when taken up and replanted, may sufficiently please even 
an experienced eye, and look both abundant and healthy ; 
but they may, and often do receive such treatment 
between the two processes, as incapacitates them for per- 
forming their functions as absorbents. If the roots, and 
especially the minute fibres, are to be kept up as much as 
possible entire, (which is a fundamental rule in the pre- 
servative system,) it is evident that the utmost care and 
attention are indispensable, to prevent an unnecessary 
exposure to the atmosphere. Should that unfortunately 
be permitted, the fibres will become discoloured, or alto- 
gether black, and by immediately decaying, after being 
replanted, soon occasion a corresponding decay in the 
spray and twigs of the branches. As the sap, therefore, 
is scantily absorbed and sent upwards, an equally scanty 
supply of the proper juice is sent down, in order to give 
expansion to the roots ; and although the tree carry a 
tolerable leaf, and produce the general efi'ect contemplated 
in its removal, still the efforts which it makes to supply 
the parts that have been lost, retard its progress, and a 
year or two may elapse ere the due complement be made 
up, and the tree consequently shoot forth with ^agour. It 
is to be feared that this cause of backwardness oftener 
occurs than the best planters are aware of ; but it never 
appears so fully displayed to the view as in some singular 
case, when the tree happens again to be taken up after 
the first or second season. 

The third cause that may be assigned, is late frost in 
the spring of the first year, or it may be early frost in 
the autumn of the foregoing season. Supposing that trees 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



245 



have the best roots and branches, and that they have been 
transferred without accident or injury, premature frost is 
nevertheless an enemy to their success which no foresight 
can prevent. In these northern latitudes we have, properly 
speaking, but three divisions of the year — summer, winter, 
and autumn. The fourth division, namely spring, although 
it figures in the calendar, does not always favour us with 
its actual presence. Sharp frosts in May, and sometimes 
in October, are not altogether unknown in the best English 
climates ; but they are mild visitants there to what they 
sometimes prove in Scotland. 

If the reader have fully apprehended the detail, which 
has been given above, (especially in section IV.,) respecting 
roots and branches, he will perceive, that those two main 
conservative organs, being (as the shoolmen say) " relative 
and correlative," continually act and react ; hence, they 
reciprocally flourish and decay, and are reciprocally 
stationary or progressive. Therefore it must happen, that 
if, during April and May, a keen frost supervene, when 
the sap first rises, (and the flow must always be more or 
less imperfect in the season of removal,) the topshoots of 
the former year will inevitably be cut down, and the roots 
must sufi'er proportionally in consequence. In the same 
way, if they be cut down in October, they will not revive 
in May or April. In either case, the activity of vegetation 
being checked in the outset^ and in both branches and 
roots, it will require more than a single year ere the tree 
can regain its healthful action. 

The fourth cause which may be stated, is late planting 
in the spring, which always operates as a great discourage- 
ment to trees and kills many. By planting early, that is 
soon after the autumn, or at least not later than February 
and March, all trees (Oaks and Evergreens excepted) are 
surprisingly benefited. By means of the moisture with 



246 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



which the earth is constantly saturated at this season, a 
gradual consolidation of the mould round the roots and 
fibres takes place, far superior to any that can be brought 
about by artificial pressure. But the state of the atmo- 
sphere after March being comparatively dry, no equal 
consolidation is attainable, and the roots, if once injured 
hy drought, sufi*er so severely as not to recover the injury 
for some years, and often they never recover it. 

The fifth cause is akin to this, and acts prejudicially 
in the same manner, during the first year — namely, the 
neglect of duly covering and watering the roots before 
the summer drought sets in. In situations where " shows," 
or the refuse of a flaxmill, cannot be obtained, moss, 
(Scottice fog,) which is frequently employed by florists, 
is the best substitute, as already mentioned. 

It is remarkable that these five probable causes of 
backwardness in the growth of trees, the first only excepted, 
uniformly operate during the first season after their 
removal, which points out the vast influence which their 
health during that critical period seems to possess over 
their after-progress. As the evils specified are, all except- 
ing one, in our own power, and such as by attention and 
industry may be prevented, so it likewise points out of 
how much importance it is, both to the general planter 
and the planter for immediate efiect, by every efibrt to 
endeavour to prevent them, by attention to the selection, 
condition, treatment, and growth of their plants, in the 
early stages of their progress. 

It is highly probable, that one or other of these causes 
of backwardness exist in all removed subjects which 
become stationary, although we are not always aware of 
its existence. How successfully soever a tree may be 
transferred, we do not expect any considerable shoots 
from it till after the the third or fourth year ; and we 



THE planter's GdlDE. 



247 



do not decidedly pronounce as to its backwardness till 
the fifth or sixth, when, if it be a fine subject, we begin to 
look round for a remedy. At this juncture, the evil or 
evils in question are in a very great degree alleviated, by 
the efibrts made by the plants themselves to regain their 
lost strength. Hence, the stimulus of the compost above 
recommended, must now come at a very opportune period. 
Coal or wood ashes, or peat-compost, as already said, soot, 
the sweepings of houses, and other miscellaneous com- 
pounds, intimately mixed with soil in a completely friable 
state, are peculiarly fitted for this purpose : and, in fact, 
nothing less than such a stimulus is sufficient to compen- 
sate for the want of heat, and to render vegetation once 
more active, counteracted as it must be by the severity of 
the process of removal itself, and by the eflPects of the 
exposure in which the tree has been placed. The great 
object, in the application of all manure, is to furnish as 
much soluble matter as possible to the roots of plants, and 
that in a slow and gradual manner, in order that it may 
be entirely consumed in forming their sap and various 
organised parts. 

This short statement may perhaps in some measure 
account for the backward condition of trees standing in 
the open park, and likewise for the success of the remedy 
that has been applied to them. In regard to the superior 
advantage of the method of laying the compost on the 
surface, compared with that of digging in any manure 
among the roots, it is too obvious to require further illus- 
tration. 

There is only one other point in the department of 
afterwork which it may be worth while to touch upon, in 
as far as open dispositions of wood are concerned, and 
that is, the setting straight after a certain period. There 
is nothing that contributes more to the beauty of park 



248 



THE planter's guide. 



wood, and particularly of remoYed trees, than their main- 
taining the upright position, and their appearing unaffected 
by the western and south-western blasts. Those who 
possess grounds on the western coast will more especially 
feel the importance of this remark, It is true that, in the 
compositions of the best masters of landscape, we find 
trees sometimes represented in a heeling position; and 
such objects are often extremely picturesque, and so found 
in nature. Kent, as has been already noticed, planted 
dead trees in his designs, the better to imitate natural 
variety ; but that is not a taste which can be safely recom- 
mended to the young planter to adopt. Whatever be the 
pains and care which we bestow on making our trees 
steadfast in the planting, it will sometimes happen on a 
large scale of work, and in bleak situations, that a few 
may have discernibly yielded to the blast, after being a 
twelvemonth in the ground. It is proper, therefore, in 
the spring of the second year to go over the whole, and 
by means of a long rope, fixed as near as possible to the 
top, to bring such as require it to the windward side. The 
longer the lever, the greater of course will be the efi'ect 
produced. 

The speediest way is to turn out a number of hands 
sufficient to command the tree at once — eight or nine 
persons at the least ; taking care to secure the bark of the 
stem by various folds of mat interposed between it and 
the turns of the rope. When the tree has been sufficiently 
bent down towards the proper quarter, let the director of 
the work minutely examine where the ground rents on the 
lee side, and order an opening to be made at the place, 
with as little injury as possible to the roots, of a foot or 
eighteen inches long, and of half the width. While the 
tree is held in the heeling position, heavy masses of 
greensward are then procured, as large as can be hfted 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



249 



witli the spade, and rammed into the opening, firmly 
treading them in mth the foot, or seairing them if needful 
with the beater. If this be done in April, before the sap 
flows abundantly, no damage will be suffered by the bark, 
and little by the roots. As the position of the tree is 
reversed in the planting, and the longest branches, and 
consequently the longest roots, are turned to the stormy 
quarter, you will probably have no further trouble with it : 
although a second revision of its position is always advis- 
able in the spring of the following year. 

Upon the whole, this is a work which, according to the 
preservative system, is so seldom necessary that the 
mention of it in this place might seem superfluous ; but 
in a body of instructions intended for general use, it is 
advisable to guard against every contingency. In respect 
to the propping or supporting of trees with wood or 
ropes or other materials, which, with many planters forms 
a principal and important branch of their afterwork, it is 
wholly unknown at this place. Indeed, whoever con- 
siders the method of securing the roots above delineated, 
will perceive that such adventitious and imsightly con- 
trivances are altogether superseded by that method. 
During the course of thirty years, as already mentioned, 
we have never had a tree blown down, and rarely one 
displaced from its original position ; and it is probably to 
the undisturhecl state of the roots owing to that circum- 
stance, dming the two first years after removal, that om^ 
success may in a great measure be attributed. 

I will now proceed, in the second place, to speak of 
close woods and plantations. The afterwork applicable 
to these will not require a long discussion. Much of the 
afterwork that is proper for single trees, equally applies 
to enclosed masses of wood : besides, the same minuteness 



250 



THE PLANTEE's GUIDE. 



of attention and diversity of labour are not demanded by 
the latter, as by the former style of plantation. 

In the foregoing three Sections, the method has been 
pointed out of preparing and planting close woods, which 
in their handsomest form consist of standard or grove 
trees, with underwood intermixed. Such plantations 
having been previously trenched and manured to a potato 
crop, are in a state of preparation far exceeding any that 
can be obtained for open groups, and still more for 
detached or single trees. One advantage above all others 
they possess, and that is, that the plants which compose 
them form a complete shelter to one another, and thereby 
create a climate for the plantation, many times milder than 
that of the surrounding grounds. Here also a far greater 
stagnation of air prevails, and consequently a retention of 
moisture proportionally greater than in the open park. 

The first thing to be done with these plantations is the 
same as with single trees — namely, to go over them care- 
fully, and examine what cover they have upon the roots, 
and to supply it, if wanting, with earth taken from the 
intervals. To make up the cover to about ten inches in 
depth, is at least equal to a foot or fourteen inches in the 
open field. It seldom happens, unless the outside plants 
be very deficient in length of root, that any consolidation 
by the beater can be wanted; neither is any uncommon 
accuracy material in levelling or dressing the surface, 
unless what is required to preserve the general character 
of the ground, and to prevent the stagnation of water in 
any part. In respect to fencing the trees, nothing needs 
to be said on that subject; as the plantations being close — 
that is, composed of grove and underwood — necessarily 
implies an enclosure completely secured against sheep or 
cattle. 



THE planter's guide. 



251 



As it is equally important, though not nearly so difficult, 
to preserve close or enclosed plantations from suffering by 
drought, as open dispositions of wood, shows must be laid 
upon the roots in the former, by the middle of May at 
the latest, and before the summer droughts set in. For 
this work, the same method is to be followed as that pre- 
scribed for single trees ; only, should your stock of shows 
be not abundant, the allowance may be decreased by a 
thu'd part for the trees, and by the one half for the 
underwood. In respect to watering, it is to be done in a 
similar manner every fourth day, as pointed out for 
detached trees, but not so copiously as in the case of the 
latter, for the reasons already assigned, and because those 
trees are much more exposed to the action of the 
atmosphere. 

During the first season, the cultivation of the ground is 
of small moment; but, without displacing the shows, it 
may be hoed in the intervals. In the second year, the 
entire surface is to be lightly pointed over with the spade, 
and carefally kept with the hoe, until the plants shoot 
freely. From the superiority of this factitious cHmate, 
and other propitious circumstances, the plants very readily 
become established in the ground ; and in point of growth, 
they will soon outstrip all your other plantations. In 
this situation, we find no backwardness of growth, no 
stationary symptoms in these plants, but all advance with 
nearly equal vigour. 

From what has been said, the reader will perceive the 
great impoi^tance of a judicious system of management for 
a few years subsequent to the removal of trees, and above 
all things, the perfect preservation of their health and 
strength during the critical period of the first season. 
The great design of afterwork, independently of that of 
securing the plants from external injury, is to bring about 



252 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



their speedy and full establislimeiit in the ground. No 
plants, as I conceive, can be said to be fully established 
in the ground, unless they shoot forth with freedom, 
according to the soil in which they are placed, and that 
appears to depend, in open exposures, on their complete 
possession of all the PROTECTmG Peopeeties ; or, in other 
words, that nearly as active a vegetation shall be carried 
on, and nearly as great a deposition of nutrient matter 
made in them, as in subjects of similar magnitude in close 
plantations in the same soil and climate. That shoots of 
equal, or nearly equal length should in any case be sent 
forth by exposed as by sheltered trees (as is the case at 
this place) is a fact probably unexampled in itself, and, 
in order to gain belief, the thing requires to be seen, or at 
least supported by very unexceptionable evidence. 

It has been calculated by some arboriculturists, and 
probably with correctness, that a young plantation judi- 
ciously prepared, and afterwards kept clean with the hoe 
for seven or eight years, will grow more within that space 
of time than it would do in twenty years, by the ordinary 
method of planting without such preparation and keeping. 
If this be true, I believe it may be said with at least 
equal justice, that close plantations of removed wood, if 
properly executed, and kept with the hoe for three years, 
are equal to ordinary plantations of at least forty, or five- 
and-forty years' standing in this climate. At the end of 
four or five years, they will branch out on every side with 
such luxuriance, as to require the utmost industry of the 
pruner to restrain them within due limits ; and yet it is 
indispensably necessary that they should be so restrained, 
in order that the standard or grove trees should be kept 
spiral, and the underwood subordinate in its character. 

Upon the whole, I may assert with truth, after the 
experience of more than forty years, that there are no 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



253 



plantations at this place which exhibit the same general 
health and progressiye vigour as the Removed Woods, 
\Yhether it be in open groups or close plantations, as the 
committee of the Highland Society has amply attested. 
And should they continue by the one half only as rapidly 
progressive for the time to come, the axe must interpose 
in order to prevent them from obscuring the glades, or 
blotting out the distances of the landscape. 



SECTION XL 



EXPENSE ATTENDING THE FOEEGOlNd OPERATIONS. 

On more than one occasion in the course of this Essay, 
I have ventured to state that the art under discussion laid 
claim to be one of " practical utility/' But it would ill 
support that pretension if the principles it unfolds, and 
the practice it recommends for giving immediate effect to 
wood, involved an extravagant expenditure. For an art 
to be generally useful, it must produce something better 
than the gigantic feats and the costly wonders of former 
ages. If the art in question possess any one merit above 
another, it is that of lessening the expense of both present 
and former practice, and bringing it within the reach of 
any person of moderate fortune. 

Of all the rural luxuries which the landowner may 
enjoy, there is certainly no one more exquisite than that 
of obtaining at pleasure the command of wood ; and 
every one we should think would rejoice at the endeavour 
to render it a cheap luxury. The efforts, therefore, of those 
must appear the more surprising, who for some years past 
have laboured to mislead the public by exaggerating the 
expense attending the preservative system;'" and as their 
opportunities of information might he supposed the best, 
so it places in a striking point of view either their 
gratuitous malevolence or their extraordinary ignorance. 

* See the Report of the Committee of the Highland Society, which is given 
in the Appendix. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



255 



The most distinct method which I apprehend can be 
adopted to show the true amount of the expense attending 
the various processes above described, in the preparation 
and removal of woods, is, in the first place, to state the 
particulars in as far as they regard my own practice, 
which any one may examine and verify at pleasure ; and 
in the second place, to give a report of the operations of 
a few well-known persons of the first respectability, who, 
on a conviction of its correctness, have adopted my system, 
not gratuitously and ignorantly, but with some knowledge 
of scientific principle. For I will venture to assert, that 
one ever yet adopted this system, ivith a hnowledge of the 
principles on which it is founded, whose practice was not 
attended more or less with success. The general error 
committed by planters is to consider it too much as a 
mechanical art, and not to allow to principles the just 
rank and consequence they deserve. 

In the first place, as to my own practice. It is obvious 
that there are two ways in which rural labour is performed. 
The one is by contract, according to specific rates and 
stipulated dimensions, which gives the cost in money on 
ascertaining the extent of the work. The other is by day 
labour, which gives it as certainly by the rate of wages 
paid to the workmen, and an estimation of time. But 
wherever much accuracy or nicety of execution is in ques- 
tion, experience will advise to follow the latter, rather than 
the former method. In the preparation of the soil, how- 
ever, and likewise the preparation of subjects, the work 
may be done sufl&ciently well by contract ; which, on a 
large scale, and with expert workmen, I have sometimes 
found it advisable to adopt, both as most speedy and most 
economical. 

As to work executed by contract : the mode of pre- 
paring the pits for single trees, and open dispositions of 



256 



THE planter's guide. 



wood, is described at page 143, &c. If the soil 
be of tolerable quality — wliich in a nobleman's or 
gentleman's park is a fair supposition — ^then two, or at 
most three, single-horse cart-loads of compost will suf- 
fice, and the pit is to be worked to the depth of 
from eighteen inches to two feet. In that case, I have 
done the work at the rate of from 8d. to lOd. per pit ; 
and the compost (supposing it to be made with animal 
manure) may be prepared for 9d. per cart-load ; 
which last is the price usually paid by persons in this 
part of the country, who prepare it solely for agricultural 
purposes. 

Should the soil be very thin, or, in an extreme case, 
should there be no soil at all, but merely barren sand or 
rock on the spot, and should the owner still resolve to cover 
it with wood, he must necessarily bring earth for the sub- 
sistence of his trees. In such a case, every one will ad- 
mit that, although a striking improvement of property is 
thus made by the superinduction of a new soil, both for 
grain and grass crops, yet so entire an alteration of the 
nature of the ground cannot be fairly chargeable to the 
planting of it, whether with old trees or young. As may 
be seen at pp. 144, 145, such improvements are extremely 
practicable, and have been often made at this place, at no 
very extravagant cost : but still they are agricultural, and 
make an adequate return in pasture for the money laid 
out. 

The above may serve to convey a fair idea of the ex- 
pense of preparation, when the pits are to be made a 
twelvemonth beforehand, and the trees and underwood 
removed after that interval. Should the planter be in 
haste to obtain the effect required, and be resolved both to 
prepare and to plant during the same season, then the ex- 
pense of the compost would be the same as that already 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



257 



stated, but the preparation of the pits would amount to 
from Is. to Is. 3d. each. 

In trenching the entire ground for groups and larger 
masses of park-wood, which is strongly recommended to 
be done at pp. 147, 148, for reasons both agricultural and 
arboricultural, the trenching or double-digging may be exe- 
cuted at the rate of 9d. or lOd. per Scotch fall, (which 
is about one fifth part larger than the English pole or rod,) 
or £8 per acre. This calculation can be made only on 
the supposition that spadable soil is in question : but 
should the pick be called in, somewhat extra must be 
charged by the workman, as above stated, and the amount 
will depend, of com^se, on the nature of the obstacles of 
stone — for example, gravel, or obdurate clay — that present 
themselves during the work. From the passages, however, 
just now referred to, and the notes, it clearly appears that 
trenching or double-digging for groups and open disposi- 
tions, if executed on proper principles, will, besides other 
advantages, raise the value of the land by the one-half at 
least ; and moreover, in most cases it will save the labour 
of mounding, or bringing extra earth from a distance. In 
these circumstances, no reasonable person will say, that it 
would be equitable to charge the cost entirely to the 
account of transferring wood. 

At pp. 151, 152, the preparation of the ground for 
close-woods and plantations is next described. This, being 
a work usually executed on a more extensive scale than 
groups and single trees, should, generally speaking, be done 
by contract. The trenching should in no case exceed the 
rate already mentioned for open dispositions of wood. 
But as it distinctly appears, by many years' experience, 
that the abundance of the potato crop which follows 
trenching never fails to pay both for the execution of that 
work and the manure, and sometimes rent besides, the 

R 



258 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



land is thus ready for the operations of the planter with- 
out the burden of preparatory cost of any sort. 

All the above works I can say that I have, at different 
times, executed by contract, at the prices here stated, or 
nearly, according to the nature of the soil and the rate of 
labour at the time. I have Hkewise, on other occasions, 
done it by day labom^ ; and I am obliged to add that the 
difference of the expense between the two is so insignifi- 
cant, while the difference in point of accuracy is material, 
that I greatly prefer the latter method, unless for the 
trenching of close plantations, where the same minute 
attention is not required, and where a far greater space of 
ground is to be turned up. In the nicer parts of the pre- 
paration of the soil, as has been shown in section YI., it 
is surprising what may be done for the fine and capillary 
absorbents of the root by a minute attention to the com- 
minution of the parts. 

Of the other processes connected with the removal of 
trees — namely, the taking up, the transporting, and the 
planting itself — no part of them can be made the subject 
of work by contract, and they are to be estimated only by 
time. This is evident from the very nature of those pro- 
cesses ; and hence there is no other way in which the cost 
can be ascertained, excepting by the dimensions of the 
trees transplanted, the distance from which they are 
brought, and the particular labour that has attended them. 

If a tree removed to the open park be from fifteen to 
eighteen feet high, and from eighteen inches to two feet in 
girth — or, in other words, from six to eight inches in dia- 
meter — which, as has been already said, is the smallest tree 
that has strength to resist the elements; and if the dis- 
tance it is brought be about half a mile, which may be 
called a medium distance, the expense, in general, is not 
found to exceed 6 s. 6d. If it be from five-and-twenty to 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



259 



thirty feet high, and from three feet to three feet six in 
girth, the expense is not found to be more than 12s. 6d. 
This is as accm^ate an estimate as can be made of the 
present expense of transfernng park wood, at this place, 
with expert workmen — which must necessarily vary as the 
size increases, or as the rate itself is varied by circum- 
stances, or controlled by unavoidable and unforeseen acci- 
dents. But I have scarcely known an instance in which 
plants of the largest size in question cost from 15 s. to 18 s. 
Estimates of the particulars, for both sizes, may be given 
as follows : — 

For a Tree from fifteen to eighteen feet high, with Lime Compost. 
Preparation of the pit, as above, . . .£008 

Three cart-loads of compost, at 6d. . . . 0 16 

Three workmen taking up, half a day, at Is. 6d. . 0 2 3 

Transporting and planting, say . . . 0 2 1 

£0 6 6 



For a Tree from five-and-twenty to thirty/ feet high, with Dung Compost. 
Preparation of the pit, . . . .£008 

Three cart-loads of compost, at 9d. . . . 0 2 3 

Three workmen taking up, a day, at Is. 6d. . . 0 4 6 

Transporting and planting, say . . . 0 5 1 

£0 12 6 



Of these composts it is understood, that they are to be 
made up in the manner already directed in section VI. pp. 
139, 140; the lime compost at from one-fifth to one-sixth 
part of the lime to four or five sixths of the peat, accor- 
ding to the weather and the state of the materials. The 
dung compost is to be mixed according to the judicious 
directions of the late Lord Meadowbank, with important 



260 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



improYements wliicli experience has suggested, and wliicli 
are detailed in the notes referring to the above passages. 

In respect to close-woods it is to be observed, that the 
expense of removing the trees which compose them, if of 
the heights just now mentioned, is necessarily much less 
than the cost of such as would suit the open park. The 
former possess the non-protecting properties, especially 
small tops, and correlative roots ; hence they are far 
more easily transferred than the others. For close-woods, 
for obvious reasons, subjects will always be chosen that 
are endued with the non-protecting properties ; and 
therefore the expense of removing them half a mile, as 
already mentioned, does not exceed 3s. 6d. each for the 
standard or grove trees, and from Is. to 2s. per stool for 
the underwood. 

The rates thus specified for woods of all sorts are given 
with great care, as the result of many years' experience. 
If planters could be persuaded to confine themselves, at 
least in their earlier essays, to subjects of moderate dimen- 
sions, such as are from five-and-twenty to thirty feet in 
height, but of some stoutness, (that is, from a foot to four- 
teen inches in diameter — and these are quite sufficient for 
immediate effect and picturesque beauty,) they might 
confidently rely on the power of the art amply to gratify 
their wishes at a very moderate cost. It is the ambition 
of undertakings beyond the accomplishment of any man 
without extraordinary skill, and without machinery far 
surpassing in magnitude and expense what is generally 
constructed, that misleads and discourages many, and 
prevents those habits of accurate observation and patient 
industry without which no art, useful or ornamental, ever 
yet was carried to any degree of excellence. 

I will now proceed to give a few examples of work 
executed solely by day labour, which, on an estimate of 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



261 



time, are also susceptible of an intelligible result. Of 
effects both rapidly and cheaply produced, and likewise 
on a scale of some extent, it would not be easy to give 
better instances than what are to be found at this place. 
To state facts, not to excite wonder, is the sole object of 
the following short detail : and in truth, both the time 
and the manner in which the objects in question have 
been accomplished are so well known to many persons 
that all disguise or concealment on my part were impos- 
sible, had I any wish to practise arts so disingenuous. 

On turning to the Frontispiece, plate I., the reader 
will perceive that, in this view of the park, considerable 
woody effects have been realised, and that they are very 
favourably seen with water as a foreground. Between 
the years 1816 and 1821, the former inclusive, the whole 
of this, whether park trees or copsewood, was executed 
by means of the transplanting machine, excepting as to 
the distant and bounding lines of wood, which on the 
spot are easily distinguishable. Within the above space 
of time it rarely happened that more than eight or nine 
workmen were employed, unless for the trenching, which, 
as has been recommended in section VI., w^as generally 
done by contract. The months of the year in which 
transplanting work is performed here are usually four, 
namely, from January till May. The wages paid to 
workmen have, for some years, been 9s. and 10s. per 
week : hence, supposing one week in the month to go off 
for unfavourable weather, the entire amount would, at the 
latter rate, be £58, 10s. yearly. This is a considerable 
sum, no doubt ; although it allows but a small portion of 
expense for each tree and bush of the many hundreds 
that have been removed. But it would admit of but few 
plants indeed, at the rate of ten and fifteen guineas, 
which folly or ignorance has supposed them to cost. 



262 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



Let it be observed, moreover, that there is included in 
the same estimate the planting of a considerable island 
in the lake, and four different promontories of some ex- 
tent, besides the woody accompaniments of the bridge 
seen in the second distance, and sundry other groups and 
open dispositions of trees in the park, which were viewed 
by the Committee of the Highland Society, and cover a 
large surface ; but they could not all be given in this 
landscape. In these circumstances, probably £58, 10s., 
laid out annually for six years, will not be considered, by 
any one conversant with wood, as an extravagant, but 
rather as a very moderate sum, to dedicate to the speedy 
accomplishment of the objects which it has been thus 
attempted to delineate. 

It is true, it may be said that this is a vague state- 
ment, consisting only of a general view of expenditure, 
without the detail of particular items, and therefore 
without the grounds of conclusive proof. For this reason 
it will be proper to select one or two recent instances for 
the purpose, in which certain work has been done at some 
certain and specific price. 

Of all the ways in which the art of transplanting can 
display its power, there is no one more conspicuous than 
when it is employed to relieve or decorate ornamental 
buildings, or to mask such as are obtrusive or unsightly, 
and for that reason require concealment. If a new 
approach, for example, be made to a place, and a new 
entrance gate and lodge be executed in a situation where 
no wood exists, there is nothing more common than to 
see such erections, handsome perhaps in themselves, 

" standing in blank and desolated state " 

for fifteen or twenty years, and exhibiting to the traveller 



THE planter's GUIDE, 



263 



that want of power to give immediate effect to wood 
which, as has been already stated, is a desideratum in the 
landscape gardener's department, and which the art under 
consideration is calculated to supply. 

It so happened, about five years since, that a new 
entrance was made to this place, and a new lodge and 
gateway erected. It being from a quarter of secondary 
importance, and other works being on hand at the time, 
of a more pressing nature, the wooding of the spot was 
deferred, and the building allowed to stand for four years 
in the bleak condition just now described. The lodge 
was placed near the top of a steep bank, overhanging the 
Calder, which is here an insignificant stream ; and it had 
no wood of any sort to cover it, excepting four solitary 
fir-trees, of about sixty years' growth, and at some dis- 
tance from one another. It is impossible, therefore, that 
any thing could be more " blank and desolate," or, as the 
landscape gardeners phrase it, more completely " staring." 
Being aware that these defects could be at any time 
remedied, I did not resolve, till the spring of 1826, to do 
away the reproach of so unmeaning an object. To efi'ect 
this nothing but wood was wanting, as the ground round 
the building to some extent was in a favourable state, 
and had been trenched some time before, and manured to 
a potato crop. 

The plan of this entrance is peculiar, as may be seen 
by the view given in plate Y. ; and as it would be impos- 
sible for any one to apprehend what the transplanting 
machine has done for it, without a few words of verbal 
description, an apology will be the less necessary to the 
reader, for obtruding on him any thing so local and 
unimportant, which in other circumstances would appear 
utterly impertinent and extraneous. 

The lodge stands on a gentle swell, somewhat elevated 



264 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



above the turnpike road, and instead of being placed 
quite close to it, as is commonly done, and rendered 
nearly invisible by shrubs and creepers, it is thrown 
back into the park about fifty feet off the road. Across 
the coach road, and at right angles with it, runs an open 
railing in front, terminating in a hedge, which at some 
distance falls easily into the general line of the road 
fences ; leaving on the outside of the gate an open 
space or grass-plot, a hundred and four yards in length, 
and comprising about the fifth part of an acre. This 
space is kept with the scythe, and is separated from the 
turnpike road by a low rough fence of larch stakes, some- 
thing less than two feet high, of which the bark is allowed 
to remain upon the stakes. On the sides of the coach 
road, through the whole breadth of the bounding line of 
plantation, run two grassy margins of the park, about five- 
and-thirty feet broad, which come down to the gate, and 
seem to form a part of the external grass-plot, being 
separated from it only by the open railing, so that the 
sheep browse up to the gate itself. These two margins 
within, and the grass-plot without, are completely wooded 
with grove or standard trees, from twenty-five to thirty- 
five feet high, scattered in an irregular manner, eighteen 
or twenty feet assunder, with copse or underwood in the 
intervals, which last are from four to six feet in height. 

Thus the open but woody character of the park is 
continuous, and extends the whole way to the public 
road ; while the traveller, in passing along, catches here 
and there glimpses of the lodge, with the light foliage of 
the trees playing on the porch and other parts of the 
building. Beyond the limit of these park-like margins, 
all the adjoining space, to the extent of more than three 
quarters of an acre, is massed up with grove trees and 
underwood in the closest manner; and the whole forms 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



265 



the space of groimcl which was wooded on this occasion. 
The lodge itself, of which a view is taken by an ingenious 
artist, forms a pleasing object from the road, when lighted 
up by the gleams of the morning or evening sun, which, 
darting across the grove trees in the woody margins, give 
considerable animation to the picture.''' 

In the last days of February 1826, eight persons com- 
menced the work of creating these effects, over the three 
quarters of an acre of entirely open ground just now 
described. The trees and bushes were brought from the 
distance of half a mile or more, and in the course of a 
month (that is, four working weeks) and two days the 
whole was completed. A single horse, with a driver, 
drew the machine, and worked fifteen days ; so that the 
expense stands as follows : — 

Eight Workmen 26 days, at Is. 6d. per day, . . ^15 12 0 

One horse and Driver 15 days, at 5s. . . . 3 15 0 

Lime compost, 44 cart-loads only, (the ground having been 
previously trenched and manured to a potato crop,) at 
6d. per cart-load, . . . . .12 0 

In all, £20 9 0 



N.B. — It was omitted to be mentioned above, that one or 
two of the foreground trees were planted two years pre- 
viously, which would make little difference in the estimate. 

Now, if the interest and importance of these efiects, to 
any one having a lodge and entrance gate to wood com- 
pletely, be considered, and that it was so wooded within 
the space of a month, every candid person will admit 
that, supposing the sum to have been double, or even 
triple, it could not be regarded as a very exorbitant 
pm'chase. 

* Note I. 



266 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



The soil being light sand, the groye trees chiefly 
employed to form this plantation are Beech, Sycamore, 
Birch, and a few Limes. The copse or underwood con- 
sists of Oak, Mossy-cup Oak, Beech, Chestnut, Birch, 
Norway Maple, Holly, Hazel, Mountain-Ash, and Birds- 
cherry, common and Canadian. Of the gi^oye-wood it is 
a singular circumstance, that not a tree failed last season, 
notwithstanding the endurance as well as seyerity of the 
drought, during a summer truly tropical. Some of the 
bushes, howeyer, died, and particularly the Holly. 

Another example of a similar sort shall be merely 
alluded to, as an account of it, much better than any I 
could giye, is to be found in the Report of the Committee 
of the Highland Society. It relates to the wooding of 
two acres of ground in 1819, as a close plantation, in 
order to giye effect to another part of the same approach. 

It was executed in the space of three months — that is, 
from February to May — and the entire expense (which I 
ascertained for the information of the committee) amounted 
to about £30 per acre ; but some of the groye trees were 
of large dimensions. Of the sudden and successful forma- 
tion of this screen, the able committee just now named are 
pleased to express themselyes in the following terms : — 

" When the extreme beauty of the effects produced is 
considered, it cannot be thought extrayagant that the 
plantation of groye and copse-wood, on the two acres 
already mentioned, should amount (as appears from Sir 
Henry's memoranda) to about £30 per acre. On the 
contrary, the committee belieye that no yisible change on 
the appearance of nature, howeyer triyial in comparison, 
could haye been effected by the landscape gardener in any 
other manner under three times the sum.'' 

* See their Report in the Appendix. 



THE planter's guide. 



267 



These will probably be deemed sufficient as positive 
examples. Perhaps a single one, given in the compara- 
tive way, and contrasting the expense of wooding a space 
of ground by means of the transplanting machine, and 
wooding it after the common method of planting with 
nursery plants, will appear still more conclusive and satis- 
factory to the reader. 

In looking up the lake, the reader will observe a bold 
promontory or headland, (see Frontispiece, plate I.,) 
situated on the right-hand side, near the bridge, which 
was seen by the Committee of the Highland Society. 
This prominent spot was wooded in 1817 by an open 
disposition of trees, twenty-two in number, and consisting 
mostly of Sycamores, with a few Oaks and Elms inter- 
spersed. A few bushes, which are close to the water's 
edge, have been recently added. 

The dimensions of the trees were from five-and-twenty 
to eight -and-twenty feet high ; and as the situation was 
one of very open exposure to the west, care was taken to 
select such subjects as possessed, in a considerable degree, 
all the protecting properties. This plantation was 
executed in nine days, by nine workmen, and a horse to 
draw the machine, the distance not much exceeding a 
quarter of a mile. The expense, which amounted to 
about 10 s. per tree, is as nnder : — 



Nine workmen 8 days, at Is. 8d. per day, . ^6 0 0 
One horse and driver 15 days, at 5s. . . 3 15 0 
Dung compost 44 cart-loads, at 9d. . . 1 13 0 



In all, ^11 8 0 



Now we shall suppose that the art of giving immediate 
effect to wood had been altogerther unknown to me, and 



268 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



that I had wished to procure two-and-twenty fine trees, 
for so prominent a station, bj the ordinary system of 
planting. The first thing I should have had to do, 
according to the most speedy method, would have been to 
enclose, trench, and manure the ground for a green crop, 
and then to plant it with nursery plants of four years' 
growth. The next thing would have been to keep it 
with the hoe for two years, until the plants shot freely, 
which they were likely to do within that period ; and 
after about thirty years in this climate, the whole would 
have been of the size wanted. Had no means been taken 
to cultivate and prepare the ground, forty years, at the 
least, would have been requisite.'" 

According to the former supposition as to time, and 
that the trenching and manuring for a green crop were 
properly executed, the crop would, in common cases, pay 
the cost of both of these operations ; and the ground 
being rather more than a quarter of an acre, and ready 
for planting without preparatory expenditure, the outlay 
would be the following : — 

Enclosing one-fourth of an acre of ground with 
double railing, and stakes 4? feet high, for sheep 
and lambs, 92 yards, at 6d. per yard, . . .£260 

Planting the ground with various trees, including 



the expense of the plants, . . . . 110 0 

Keeping with the hoe for two years, . . . 0 16 8 

Renewing the railing 4 times, . . . . 9 4 0 
Rent of one-fourth of an acre of ground for 30 years, 

at 15s. yearly, 22 10 0 

Accumulated interest on the above sums for 30 years, 

say only 115 10 0 



Total expense of the ordinary method, £l5l 16 8 



* Note II. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



269 



N.B. — Some labour and expense being obyiously 
necessary to gTub out the superfluous trees, and reduce 
them to the number wanted — also to leyel and dress the 
ground, and restore it to proper pasture — the value of the 
thinnings of the wood may be allowed to cover those 
items. 

Thus, then, it appears that, by the ordinary method, 
you may have a group or plantation consisting of two- 
and-twenty trees for £151, 16s. 8d. ; and by means of 
the transplanting machine, for £11. 8s., or nearly the 
thirteenth part of the money ! I conceive that it 
would not be easy to give a more complete answer than 
this comparative statement to those persons who 
object to transplanting on the score of expense, 
exclusively altogether of the difference of obtaining the 
efi'ect of wood, in the one case at once, and of waiting 
thirty years to obtain it in the other. 

Having now adduced a sufi&cient number of examples 
from my own experience, it wiU be proper to add some 
corroboration of them from the experience of others : 
but it must be the experience or practice of such persons 
only as have acquired some idea of the principles of 
the art. It is true many persons, of late years, have 
professed to follow my system, and have failed in the 
attempt merely from a want of acquaintance with the 
principles on which it is founded. This, it is obvious, 
is a sort of communication which I could make only 
to particular friends. But it is quite erroneous to 
suppose that, from superior dexterity alone in my 
workmen — the consequence of long practice — any thing 
can be done here that may not, with the same care 
and attention, be done elsewhere. 

The first person I shall mention is my friend James 
Smith, Esq. of Jordanhill, in the coxmty of Renfrew, but 



270 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



in the neighbourhood of Glasgow. The mansion-house of 
J or dan hill is situated on an eminence about four miles 
west of the city, and commands a most extensive view of 
that fine vale in which the Clyde majestically flows 
towards Rutherglen and Dumbarton. The place in general 
is handsomely wooded, but is deficient in the quarter 
which overlooks the vale ; and as the latter skirts the 
principal approach, it was desirable, by means of a 
number of foreground trees, to break so wide an expanse 
into separate portions. By obscuring the less interesting 
points, and bringing forward in detail those that were 
more important, a far greater interest might be conferred 
on so noble an assemblage of objects. 

In these circumstances, Mr Smith, who was about to 
plant the open ground in the ordinary manner, applied to 
me for advice and assistance ; and I recommended it to 
him to improve the spot by transferring large trees at 
once, and thereby to produce whatever efi'ect he pleased 
on the foreground, and the middle distance of the land- 
scape. Understanding that his subjects for removal were 
rather older than was desirable, (some of them being 
trees of from fifty to sixty years' growth,) the first thing 
to be done was to procure him a machine of the inter- 
mediate size, very strongly made. See plate III. and the 
relative specifications. Two of the most experienced of 
my workmen were then sent down from this place, in 
order to instruct his people in the use of it ; and in less 
than three days they made wonderful proficiency in the 
practice. 

Mr Smith, who is a man of science as well as various 
accomplishments, soon acquired a conception of the prin- 
ciples. He saw with pleasure and surprise the striking 
improvements that, by means of vegetable physiology, 
might be communicated to an art of which the vast 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



271 



power was unknown to the public, and he resolved to 
avail himself of it in his own improvements. Instead of 
indolently trusting to others, he ardently entered into the 
details of the execution. He often became the director 
of his own work ; and so rapid was his advancement in 
practical skill that, in the space of a fortnight, he removed 
trees of thirty and five-and-thirty feet high, and of great 
thickness, with the utmost success. 

The effects at once produced on so bold and beautiful 
a subject, on which not a tree nor a bush had previously 
stood, were as astonishing as they were delightful. 
When I saw the place in the spring of 1825, several 
groups of fine foreground trees, with extensive tops, were 
already formed, and had attracted the notice of the 
scientific and the curious. All united in admiration of 
the skill and ingenuity of the planter ; but no one who 
saw the trees, except Mr Smith himself, was prepared to 
beheve that they could without propping withstand the 
western gales. The old men about the place reminded 
him that, at the equinox, those blasts were so terrific as 
sometimes to endanger even the stoutest of his trees, 
which had been reared on the ground for nearly a century, 
and which must far exceed in stability any plants that 
art or ingenuity could at once bring upon an open surface. 
The gardener, who was a planter of the old school, loudly 
declared, that " all the men in Renfrewshire could not 
keep them up in the face of a real and genuine south- 
wester, unless their heads were taken off, according to the 
good old method.'^ Yet, notwithstanding these confident 
opinions and disastrous anticipations, not one of the trees 
has ever been moved or blown down ; and, from their 
healthy appearance, they promise to continue fine 
examples of the art, and especially of the use of the 
retaining-bank in transplanting in the west of Scotland. 



272 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



The trees removed by this intelligent planter, both on 
the fine hill or slope above described, and in other parts 
of his place, are Oaks, Beeches, Limes, Sycamores, Elms, 
and Horse-Ohestnuts. From two letters which I have 
from him, on the snbject of the expense, I learn that it 
was in the beginning a good deal enhanced by his " dash- 
ing at once," as he said, " at the largest and heaviest sub- 
jects," ere sufficient dexterity had been acquired by his 
workmen, or sufficient experience by himself In this 
way, at thirty feet high, they cost him from 15s. to 
18s. each, when brought from any considerable distance — 
that is, a mile or more : but at one size under, he 
afterwards transferred very handsome subjects for 8s. 
and 10s., and inferior ones for 6s., and less. Mr Smith's 
practice, therefore, may be considered as an instance of 
both good management and moderate outlay, as weU as 
of considerable dexterity and perseverance. 

During the severe and continued drought of last season, 
(1826,) and his own absence from Jordanhill, I under- 
stand that he lost some fine Oaks. Not being sufficiently 
aware of the importance of afterwork, both the necessary 
covering of shows, and likewise the watering, had, it seems, 
been neglected ; which sufficiently proves what I have 
endeavoured already to enforce — ^that attention to after- 
work, instead of proving expensive, is the truest economy ; 
and that neither the Oak nor the Beech can be safely 
trusted, or left to themselves, in the second season, how 
vigorous soever they may appear during the first. 

The second person whom I shall mention is John 
JVrCaU, Esq. of Ibroxhill, who is brother-in-law to Mr 
Smith, and resides in his immediate neighboiu'hood. 
Ibroxhill is, as well as Mr Smith's, a high place, and com- 
mands a splendid view of a fine country. On the lawn 
immediately in front of the house, there were, two years 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



273 



ago, no trees ; so that it became an object of first-rate 
importance to the judicious owner to remedy so striking 
a deficiency. In the spring of last year, 1826, (an 
unfortunate season for a beginner,) this gentleman, by 
the aid of Mr Smith's workmen, commenced his operations 
with great spirit ; and after successfully removing forty- 
three trees, completely changed the appearance of his 
place. The prospect, instead of being bleak and cold, 
became, in the course of a few weeks, woody and delight- 
ful. The plants were nearly of the same species as those 
transferred at JordanhilL Their size was from eighteen 
to eight-and-twenty feet high, and from two to three in 
girth, or, in other words, from eight inches to a foot in 
diameter. The w^hole expense amounted to only £19, 
or about 8s. lOd. per tree.'" 

The third person who shall be named is Robert Wat- 
son, Esq. banker in Glasgow, who has a beautiful villa, 
named Linthouse, on the Clyde, in the neighbourhood of 
Govan, with some extent of ground belonging to it. The 
place was planted between thirty and forty years since ; 
and as the soil is deep, and the climate of a superior sort, 
the wood has rushed up with far greater rapidity than 
could have been expected in most situations. As the 
owner, likewise, or his predecessors, have in some degree 
thinned the trees, there was a better choice of large sub- 
jects than at Ibroxhill. 

In a situation like this, and with a noble river in view, 
our forefathers were of opinion that they could never see 
too much of it ; and therefore their custom was to plant 
long and formal rows of trees on the flanks, and leave 
their front wholly open, in order to have the fuller enjoy- 
ment of the prospect. Of late years, however, as good 

* Note III. 

S 



274 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



taste and a knowledge of landscape have increased, we 
begin to discover that a fine expanse, whether of land or 
water, rather suffers an accession to, than a diminution of, 
its extent, from being broken- into parts bj trees, as the 
imagination never fails to magnify the extent of what is 
concealed ; and hence new combinations are formed, and 
fresh landscapes arise, from the variety produced by con- 
cealment. 

It was probably on some such principle as this that 
Mr Smith proceeded in advising his friend to diversify 
his front towards the river, by the removal of trees of a 
large size. Accordingly, during last spring, (1827,) the 
field in front of Linthouse was most respectably wooded, 
with detached and open dispositions of wood. Whether 
they be very accurately disposed, according to the prin- 
ciples of landscape, I cannot state, as I do not happen to 
be personally known to the respectable owner, neither 
have I lately seen the place from the river : but I under- 
stand that they consist of Oaks, Beeches, Limes, Elms, 
and Horse-Chestnuts, of which some are more than thirty 
feet in height, and ten, twelve, and fourteen inches in 
diameter. 

The trees were all transferred on the preservative prin- 
ciple. They are thirty-two in number, and the gross 
amount of the expense is £25, 5s. But deducting 
£2 for the removal of earth, subsequently to the planting, 
which was not a constituent part of the work, the actual 
cost of each tree is nearly 14s. This sum, considering 
the magnitude of several of the trees, and that it was 
Mr AYatson's first essay, he has reason to regard as a 
cheap purchase for such effects. And most men so cir- 
cumstanced, we may venture to say, would have given 
three times the money for the striking increase of comfort 
and seclusion which, independently altogether of pic- ^ 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



275 



tiiresqne considerations, was in this way communicated 
to their residences. 

The fourth person whom I shall specify is Mr James 
Hamilton, overseer to Sir Charles M. Lockhart of Lee, 
Bart, in the county of Lanark. That gentleman, who 
has a fine place in the neighbourhood of the county town 
of Lanark, is at the head of the ancient family of Lee 
and Cartland, whose representative in the beginning of 
the fourteenth century. Sir Simon Lockhart, is said to 
have carried King Robert Bruce's heart in a golden box 
from Spain. 

Owing to Sir Charles's residence in another county, 
during a great part of the years 1826 and 1827, he could 
not personally attend to the spirited improvements that 
were carried on at Lee ; he therefore entrusted the man- 
agement of them to a person every way adequate to the 
task, namely, his judicious overseer, Mr James Hamilton, 
who in the spring of the year first mentioned Vr^as sent 
over to this place, in order to receive some instructions 
from me in the art of transplanting on the preservative 
principle. These that intelligent person seemed at once 
to apprehend, and soon began to apply them to practice. 

In the middle of March of the same year he removed 
to the open park eleven Oaks and Ashes, of from five-and- 
twenty to thirty feet high, and in girth from two feet to 
two and a half. One or two of the Oaks were as high as 
forty feet, and they had all handsome tops. In April 
1827 he transferred six or seven trees, and of nearly 
similar dimensions, and at the average expense, in both 
years, (according to a statement by himself in my posses- 
sion,) of somewhat less than eight shillings each. Not- 
withstanding the severe drought in 1826, it may be con- 
sidered as a remarkable circumstance that only two died 
— probably owing to the want of sufficient covering and 



27G 



THE PLANTER S GUIDE. 



watering ; and ^Yhen I saw, in July last, the trees of the 
present year, tliej all carried a healthy leaf, and promised 
to succeed admirably. 

The plantations of Lee not having been thinned to 
wide distances, this ingenious planter was much limited 
in his choice of subjects ; and although what he has 
selected are very handsome and stately plants, they are 
yet somewhat deficient in the protecting properties, and 
consequently in fitness for the open field. He must not, 
therefore, be surprised or discouraged, if, according to the 
important doctrine stated in section V.,'" the trees should 
become stationary for a few years, instead of being pro- 
gressive, until, as I have said in the passage alluded to, 
these properties are supplied by time, and this deficiency 
is made up. The effort of Mr Hamilton, nevertheless, is 
spirited and meritorious ; and it serves to show what 
may be done by the diligence and attention of a single 
individual, who, with very cursory instructions from me, 
and with no assistance from experienced workmen, has 
been able to give immediate effect to wood in a manner 
so creditable to himself, and at so small an expense to his 
employer. 

The fifth person to whom I shall refer is a particular 
friend of mine, in whose transplanting experiments I have 
had some concern, and on that account I can speak of 
them more particularly, and from personal knowledge : 
this is William Elhot Lockhart, Esq. of Cleghorn, repre- 
sentative in parliament for the county of Selkirk, and 
whose residence is at Cleghorn House, in Lanarkshire. 

Cleghorn is situated on the steep and romantic banks 
of the river Mouse, which falls into the Clyde a little 
below the town of Lanark. The banks of this stream. 



* Pp. 120, 121. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



277 



which may be called classical ground, and arc abundantly 
celebrated in Scottish story, are rocky and precipitous, 
rising in many parts above the bed of the river from two 
to three hundred feet in height, and every where wooded 
to the top. It was to the inaccessible caverns, natural or 
artificial, of these woody banks, that the renowned and 
patriotic Wallace used to retire, and found a secure refuge 
from his own and his country's enemies. It was also, as 
it is said, in the same fastnesses that the well-known and 
intrepid Balfour of Burley, in a later age, was often able 
to set at defiance the utmost diligence of his pursuers. 
In the present day, the fine scenery of the Mouse is 
rendered familiar to the traveller on the great line of the 
Carlisle and Stirling road, as he views it with wonder 
from the stupendous Bridge of Oartland, at nearly a 
hundred and thirty feet above the bed of the stream. 

Although Cleghorn partakes in the woody character of 
this singular and romantic district, and has been abun- 
dantly planted according to the fashion of a former day, 
yet there are many parts of the park, and especially near 
the house, where the aid of the transplanting machuie 
might be called in with great advantage. This idea had 
frequently occurred to the good taste and discernment of 
Mr Lockhart ; but his occasional residence in a neigh- 
bouring county, and the reports which had readied his 
ears of the vast expense of my method of transplanting, 
(which was confidently said to amount to ten and fifteen 
guineas per tree,) for a considerable time prevented him 
from entertaining any serious thoughts of attempting the 
experiment. 

In the month of December last, this gentleman, who is 
as intelligent in planting as he is in every other branch of 
rural economy, applied to me to learn if I could put him 
in the way of procuring a few large trees, on any reason- 



278 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



able terms. He had heard, he said, on the best autho- 
rity, that the art of removing trees, however it might be 
improved in my hands, vras practised at enormous cost. 
To £2 or £3 each for handsome trees, he observed, no 
reasonable man could object, if of such a size and figure 
as to give the immediate effect of wood near his residence : 
but from ten to fifteen guineas he certainly considered as 
rather too expensive a luxury for general use. To this I 
replied that he had been misled by such information, be 
the authors who they might. But in order to undeceive 
him, and that the cost should not exceed his own estimate 
of £2 and £3 per tree, I undertook that a machine of the 
intermediate size should be provided for him, and that 
two of my best hands should attend at Cleghorn for the 
purpose of instructing his workmen, and of putting the 
thing to the test of his oiun experience. 

Having explained to Mr Lockhart the nature of the 
principles which had been appHed to the art, he seemed 
quite satisfied that tliej' are consonant to the laws of 
nature, and to what we know of the anatomy of woody 
plants. Accordingly, in the middle of J anuary last, (1827,) 
we commenced our operations on the spot. Having 
selected some trees with fine tops, which were far better 
subjects than woods not thinned for the purpose usually 
furnish, we very speedily transferred them. And in order 
to show how readily my friend apprehended the difi^erent 
processes, he soon, like Mr Smith, became his own director 
of the work, and managed the whole with singular address, 
and intelligence of the subject. 

The trees removed were eleven in number, and consisted 
of Oaks, Beeches, Limes, Sycamores, and Horse-Chestnuts. 
Among them was one Beech of the pendant species, a very 
singular and valuable plant, which is worthy of an atten- 
tive cultivation, and is rarely to be met with. The 



THE TLANTEK 8 OITIDE. 



279 



dimensions of tlic trees were from five-and-twenty to five- 
and-thirty feet Ingii, and from ten to fourteen inches in 
diameter, or from two feet six to three feet six inches in 
actual girth. But on casting up the expense, mj friend 
was both dehghted and surprised to discover that, instead 
of £2 and £3 as he had anticipated, they had not cost 
him quite 10s. per tree ! 

The last person the evidence of whose practice I shall 
adduce is Sir Walter Scott, Bart., whom to name, is to 
name whatever is splendid in genius, versatile in talent, 
and correct in judgment. This eminent individual has a 
place beautifully situated on the Tweed, in Roxburgh- 
shire, near Melrose, in the midst of those scenes of tradi- 
tional and peculiar interest which have been illustrated 
and immortalised in his writings. To the variety of 
attainments for which Sir Walter is distinguished, he 
adds the knowledge of arboriculture. He is ardently, 
and I may say enthusiastically, attached to the cultivation 
of wood. Though possessed of the property only sixteen 
years, he has planted nearly five hundred acres of surface ; 
and, by the acknowledgment of all his neighbours, few 
plantations are cultivated with the same skill, and none 
liave grown with more luxuriance than the woods of 
Abbotsford. 

There is no one, as may be imagined, of all the advo- 
cates of the preservative system, who more freely and 
fully admitted its utility, and its consonance to the law of 
nature, than Sir Walter, as soon as its principles were 
made known to him. Attached, though not bigoted, to 
whatever belongs to Scotland, perhaps he might regard ^ 
the theory with an eye the more partial that it had its f 
origin in his native country. But neither his public func- 
tions nor his private studies have allowed him much time 
to enter extensively into the practice of the art. His chief 



280 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



experiments were made with subjects of no great magni- 
tude, smaller indeed than, according to this system, were 
calculated to withstand the elements in open exposm^es. 
In the sheltered vale, however, in which a great part of 
the grounds near his house is situated, and for the pur- 
pose of diversifying his walks along the river. Sir Walter 
removed, in 1824 and 1825, forty trees from ten to fifteen 
feet high, and of proportional girth — Oaks, Beeches, Limes, 
and Sycamores, and nearly half as many more in the 
following season. From a want of plantations thinned to 
wide distances, he possessed no extensive field for making 
the selection properly, and therefore the plants were 
rather deficient in the protecting properties. On this 
account he knew that, according to the law of nature, 
they must be stationary at first, until time and exposure 
should supply what they ought previously to have pos- 
sessed. 

The trees had been cut round beforehand, which greatly 
facihtated the taking up, and they were all planted on 
the preservative principle. But as they stood quite close 
to the spot to which they were to be removed, they were 
transported with handspikes, and by expert workmen, in 
the most rapid manner, under the eye of the indefatigable 
owner. By a communication which I have from him, it 
appears that the plants are now in fuU health and foliage; 
and as no preparation of the ground, and no manure, 
was considered to be necessary, the entire expense did not 
exceed 2s. per tree. 

But the department of transplanting which has received 
the greatest advancement at Abbotsford, is bush-planting 
in the open field. On the sheep-walk, at no great distance 
from the mansion-house, Sir Walter has transferred some 
hundreds of bushes or stools of underwood of various 
kinds with great success ; and these give a woody appear- 



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281 



ance to the lianging grounds and banks of the place ; 
which style of wood would be, perhaps, more characteristic 
and pleasing to some persons than if taller trees had 
been used by him in planting it. It is true that trees of a 
certain height, saj from thirty to five-and-thirty feet and 
upwards, have a fine effect in catching the horizon from a 
sloping bank, and showing tne scenery of the foreground, 
and possibly of the middle distance, under their spreading 
branches ; also, they are peculiarly useful in masking or 
relieving such objects, on the opposite side of a river, as 
we cannot command, and which, for that reason, it is desir- 
able to throw into the back-ground of the picture. But 
on such subjects, as on most others connected with taste 
in the disposition of wood, great diversity of opinion must 
prevail; and that mode of arrangement or execution will 
generally seem the handsomest in which the genius of the 
place is best consulted, and where the most luxuriant 
growths and most careless dispositions of wood are pro- 
duced. The greatest triumphs of art must always be 
those in which, in rivalling nature, she most completely 
efi'ects her own concealment. 

There is at Abbotsford a new, as well as ingenious 
contrivance for defending underwood from the mouths of 
sheep, which, as it is so difficult at all times, and in this 
instance seems peculiar to Sir Walter himself, it may be 
worth while to mention. "Being in haste," says he, 
" with the bushes set out on the sheep -ground, and really 
very indifferent whether they all grew or not, I had many 
of them stuck into the middle of whin bushes, and there 
the sheep have done them no visible harm.'' Of the 
good effect of furze in adding wildness and variety to 
scenery, no one will entertain a doubt ; and those who 
have it in abundance in their parks may verify the 
efficiency of Sir Walter's method. As to the expense of 



282 



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the bush-planting, as neither manure nor preparation ot 
the soil was necessary, from the fine mould always to be 
found under the shade of furze ; and, moreover, as the 
plants and stools were obtained from the adjoining plan- 
tations, the expense was very moderate, amounting to 
considerably less than the one-half of that of the grove- 
wood. 

I believe it is needless to add any more on the subject 
of expense ; and I should not have dwelt upon it at so 
much length, had it not been for the pains that have 
been taken, and the falsehoods that have been propagated, 
in order to bring the art into disrepute, by representing it 
as a costly wonder, not as a practice which is calculated 
to be useful. 

It were easy to quote, were it necessary, the example of 
other friends, who, on being made aware of the principles 
by which the preservative system is regulated, have made 
admirable and successful efforts to apply them to practice. 
But it would only prove what, I trust, every candid reader 
will consider as proved already — that is, that wood of all 
kinds, on the preservative system, has been transferred at 
this place, and may any where else be transferred by 
others, at a moderate expense ; that the larger trees 
usually removed here, being from twenty-five to thirty- 
five feet high, may be managed, with expert and expe- 
rienced workmen, for from 10s. to 13s. each, at half a 
mile's distance ; and the smaller, being from eighteen to 
five-and-twenty feet, for from 6s. to 8s. With workmen 
awkward, or inexperienced, it will not seem surprising 
were it to require a half more at first, or even double those 
sums, in order to follow out the practice which has been 
recommended. For close plantations, or for bush-plant- 
ing in the park, the trees may be transferred for about 
3s. 6d., and the stools of underwood for from Is. to 2s. 



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283 



per stool. Subjects considerably higher than any of the 
above I sometimes remove ; but I place much greater 
value on a splendid and extensive top, for eifect in park- 
wood, than on mere length of stem, unless for particular 
purposes. As to the rates stated, I believe there are few 
planters, who have seen my trees, that would not consider 
them as cheaply procured at three and four times the 
amount. 

It was held out, in the commencement of the present 
section, that, by means of the new system attempted to 
be established, not only the exercise of the art would be 
brought within the Kmits of a moderate expenditure, but 
that the cost of both its present and former practice 
would be greatly reduced. It therefore becomes neces- 
sary, in conclusion, to show that the assertion, how bold 
soever it may seem, is not unfounded ; and this, I appre- 
hend, will be best done by saying a few words on the 
labour and expense bestowed on the removal of wood, in 
both divisions of the island, at the present moment. 

Whatever of transplanting is known in Scotland has 
undeniably been derived from our English neighbours, to 
whose superior intelligence, and earlier cultivation, we 
owe the rapid advancement we have of late made in the 
arts. He who does not feel and frankly acknowledge this 
is an uncandid Scotchman, rather than a generous de- 
scendant of the men who, though they rivalled in arms 
their more ingenious opponents, boasted no competition 
with them in either sciences or arts. 

In giving a history of the art which is the subject of 
these pages, it was stated in section II. that Robertson, 
the well-known landscape gardener, (who was sent down 
by Brown, more than seventy years since, to lay out the 
park at Duddingston for the then Earl of Abercorn,) was 
the first who taught us to give immediate effect to wood, 



284 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



and introduced the transplanting machine as constructed 
by his master. Since that period, although the unwieldy 
platform with low wheels has not been unknown in this 
kingdom, (as we have seen in the instance of Professor 
Graham of Edinburgh,) yet the simpler machine of Brown 
is still the implement most prevalent among Scottish 
planters ; and consequently, wood removed here is trans- 
ferred comparatively at less expense than it costs in 
England. That it is still a matter of physical force, and 
by consequence of fortuitous result, in both countries, is 
certain, and for that reason it must always imply a vast 
proportion of superfluous labour. It appears, however, 
that the Scotch have hitherto shown much less predilec- 
tion for anticipating the effects of time in this department 
than the English ; and certainly they possess much less the 
power of anticipating it than tliat great and opulent 
people. 

As to the present English practice, it seems to differ in 
nothing material from that which was known in the time 
of Evelyn and Lord Fitzharding. If the facility and 
despatch of the methods employed be regarded as the 
criterion by which the expense is to be estimated, it will 
not be difficult to decide between those methods hitherto 
adopted and the one recommended in this essay. 

When the English planter has to remove a tree, the first 
thing he does is to cut or trench round the roots, a year, 
or perhaps two years, beforehand, and at the same time he 
lops or lightens the top. This previous lopping I under- 
stand to be according to the most approved practice. But 
by what means he is then to ascertain the length or extent 
to which mutilation is to be carried, so as that he may 
proportion the top (as Marshall directs) " to the ability 
of the root," I own I am unable to perceive, unless the 
tree be previously taken up, and the size of the root 



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285 



clearly ascertained. But some, more judiciously, lop the 
brandies in the interval between the removal and the 
replanting ; and some also make no preparation of the 
roots at all. In cutting them round, it is held by opera- 
tors of the greatest experience, that a mass or ball of 
earth, beyond which few or no roots are found to extend, 
of seven or eight feet in diameter, for the largest subjects, 
is as much as can be properly carried away ; hence, the 
one half at least, or more probably two -thirds, of a fine 
head must be sacrificed. But it may just as well be so 
sacrificed, as it is obvious, in the circumstances of the case, 
and without roots adequate to its nourishment, that such 
a proportion of the top would certainly decay and drop 
ofi* after the first season. 

The next thing the planter does is to convey to the 
spot where the tree is to be taken up a wooden crane of 
great strength, well provided with ropes and pulleys, and 
possessing sufficient power to raise the mass of roots and 
earth upon the platform. This is no very light or speedy 
business, as is well known to those who are in the habit 
of working such unwieldy machines. Neither is it a less 
laborious undertaking to accomplish the raising of the tree 
from the pit. As the wheels, or rather rollers, on which 
the platform is to move are very low, many horses, eight 
and nine frequently, are requisite to drag a load of any 
magnitude, owing to the immense friction occasioned by 
the lowness of the wheels ; therefore, to transport a tree 
of considerable size (say five-and-thirty feet high, and six- 
teen inches in diameter) for a mile, or even half a mile, 
must in this way occupy many hands, and require much 
time and labour. 

The next operation is the planting of the tree. For 
that purpose the crane must be again transported to the 
spot ; where the same efforts that were employed to raise 



286 



THE PLANTER'S GUIDE. 



the mass from its former situation are now called forth to 
lift it from the platform, and let it down into the new pit. 
The planting, we shall suppose, is an easy business, as there 
are few roots to be distributed in the ground ; so that 
little remains to be done but to fill in the earth, which 
finishes the process. As to the propping or supporting of 
the tree, which in exposed situations sometimes defies the 
utmost diligence and ingenuity, it involves an additional 
item for wood or ropes, and labour, and is essential to be 
attended to for two years at least. However, should the 
plant be severely mutilated, and reduced to nearly a pol- 
lard, the lever furnished by the stem is sometimes unable 
to overcome the more ponderous mass of soil and roots ; 
and the necessity of propping is in such cases superseded 
by the superior weight of this load, and of the earth 
superinduced on it. 

This, I imagine, or something similar to this, making a 
fair allowance for differences in persons, places, and cir- 
cumstances, may convey a tolerable idea of the business 
of transplanting, as practised in England for nearly two 
centuries, and also in those districts of Scotland in which 
the Eno-hsh method is still followed. In some districts 
one species of machinery may be employed, and another 
in others. Some planters may be more, and some less 
skilful, and less accurate in theii' practice ; but physical 
force throughout, without phytological principle to guide 
the process, together with the labour of many hands, 
and the strength of ponderous implements, form the gene- 
ral characteristics of this species of work. I have it from 
gentlemen of high respectability, that from £2 to £5 is 
considered as no unusual or exorbitant sum to lay out for 
the removal of a tree of any size ; and even £10 and £15 
have been many times paid. 

If there be any error or exaggeration in this cursory 



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287 



view of the labour and cost of such work, as it is now 
carried on in most parts of Britain, I entreat that the 
mistatement may not be considered as intentional ; and it 
is, of course, open to the candid correction of those who 
possess superior information. I have no desire to magnify 
the merits of my own system at the expense of others, 
which have so long been held in general esteem. But if 
the impartial reader will compare it with the simple and 
rapid, but systematic field -practice, and still more simple 
machinery, which have been delineated above at so much 
leng-th, I trust it will not be too much to say that he will 
find the expense of transplanting to be reduced by the 
Preseevative method, in any case to the one-half, and 
in many cases to a third and a fourth part of its present 
amount. 

Having now, in the course of this Essay, ofibred what 
appears to me sufficient, respecting both the theory and 
the practice of this interesting art, to excite the public 
attention, I shall beg leave to conclude with one remark. 
The art of giving immediate effect to wood, although, as 
I should venture to hope, it is now established on Fixed 
Principles, will be generally cultivated, or utterly 
neglected, as the revolutions in science or the caprice of 
fashion may direct. But whatever be its ill fortune as a 
theory, w^hether it be condemned as fanciful or rejected 
as useless, I may ventm^e to say that it will not fail of 
success from the extravagant expense that attends the 
practice. 



SECTION XII. 



OF THE PRINCIPAL FOREST TREES. — THE OAK, 

All trees are fit or proper for being transplanted 
which will thrive, and come to maturity, in the soil and 
chmate in which that operation is intended to be per- 
formed. Even the most delicate and rarest exotics, as 
we have seen above, may become the subjects of horti- 
cultural transplantation. But the main object at present 
is to endeavour to ascertain what are the species of forest 
trees that can be successfully removed in a full-grown 
state, and which, when removed, will best give immediate 
shelter to our fields, and efi'ect and ornament to our parks 
and pleasure-grounds. 

For this purpose, it is evident that something more 
than a mere enumeration must be given for the informa- 
tion of the planter. No man can work with efiect, unless 
he in some degree understands both the use of his imple- 
ments and the nature of his materials ; and to that 
knowledge should be added a competent idea of the field 
on which he has to operate. It is about two centuries 
since planting began to be successfully practised to any 
extent and written upon in England ; and it is about half 
that time since it attracted the notice of the nobility and 
gentry of this kingdom. Yet it is surprising, in the pre- 
sent day, when almost every country gentleman is a 
planter, how little practical knowledge prevails upon the 
subject. A gentleman in general, in such matters, sees 



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289 



through the eyes and hears through the ears of his 
gardener. The gardener knows no more of trees than 
what he cursorily picks up during a twelvemonth, or two 
at the most, spent in the nursery-gardens of Edinburgh 
or Glasgow ; so that it is truly " the blind leading the 
blind" in this interesting branch of rural economy. 

It seems, therefore, to be a matter of some moment, 
not only to the transplanting art, but to that of planting 
in general, to inquire a little in this place into the 
history, properties, and uses of the best known forest- 
trees, as they are adapted to the climate of Britain. 
Few persons have the leisure or the industry to ransack 
the voluminous treatises of Cook and Evelyn, Miller, 
Hanbury, Marshall and others ; and fewer still are 
enabled to discriminate between what is solid and super- 
ficial, practical or fanciful, in those treatises ; or to detect 
the errors or idle traditions which one writer, without 
inquiry, too frequently copies from another. 

In the following compressed view of the nature of 
forest trees, freed from the rubbish of technical discussion 
on the one hand, and the detailed operations of the 
nurseryman on the other, the country gentleman will, 
perhaps, find a useful manual. It will give him, within a 
few pages, the principal facts relating to the subject 
which lie scattered over many volumes, added to some 
others which I myself have been able to elicit by con- 
siderable practice and observation. Thus he will learn, 
with little labour, what it is most important for him as a 
planter to know, both as to the nature and preparation of the 
soil and the properties of trees. He may, if he so inclines, 
obtain the results, without paying the price of experience. 

With this view, I will proceed to examine in their 
order our principal forest-trees.''' I will shortly describe 

* Note I. 

T 



290 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



tlie general character, species, and varieties of each ; the 
properties thej possess, nseful as well as ornamental ; the 
soil and situation to which tlie j are most suited ; pointing 
out, at the same time, in how far thej are worthy of 
transplantation, or afford facilities for that purpose. 
First, then, in point of rank and importance stands 

THE OAK. 

This tree is a native of the temperate latitudes, and is 
scarcely to be seen under the frigid or torrid zone. It is 
indigenous to Britain, where it is supposed to attain 
greater perfection than in any other country, and is found 
in almost every part of the island. 

It is pleasing to consider, in treating of this noble 
plant, that it unites at once, in itself, the most remarkable 
properties — ^the greatest beauty, the greatest usefulness, 
and the greatest durabihty — and for that reason is well 
entitled to be held as the monarch of the wood. It is a 
well-known native of almost all parts of Europe and 
Asia, and of several parts of America. Dr Marty n of 
Cambridge, in his valuable edition of Miller's Dictionary, 
enumerates in all six-and-twenty different species ; but, 
for our present purpose, two British kinds only need be 
mentioned — differing from each other in the two obvious 
and permanent characters, the fruit and the leaf. To 
these shall be added one American. 

I. The upright or stalk-fruited Oak {Querciis rohur 
pedunculata.) Evelyn calls it Q. urhana, and Miller, 
Q. foemina. This is the species by far the most common 
both in England and Scotland and has been termed by 
some late writers of the former country, the " Peduncu- 
lated but I prefer the names already known to and 
recognised by the botanists of England. 



THE PLANTEPt's GUIDE. 



291 



II. The spreading or sessile-fruited Oak [Qiiercus 
rohiir sessilis.) It lias two varieties, wliicli seeui to have 
been first noticed bj myself, and which I shaU call the 
black and white aboriginal, as they are distinguished 
chiefly by the dark and light colour of their bark. This 
sort (namely, the spreading Oak) is much less common in 
Britain than the upright species, although the contrary is 
erroneously stated by Miller ; and Doctor Hunter, in his 
edition of the Sylva of Evelyn, has copied the mistake. 
All the great and celebrated Oaks in England are of this 
spreading kind, such as the Oauthorpe, the Bentley, the 
Boddington, &c., which, there is great reason to believe, 
existed prior to the Christian era.""' 

III. The mossy-cup Oak, (Quercus muscosa,) which is 
originally a native of America, but now completely 
naturalised in Britain. Dr Yule (in the memoirs of the 
Caledonian Horticultural Society) notices four or five 
other sorts, that deserve to be cultivated in this country. 
The names of these, together with the botanical descrip- 
tion of the above three principal kinds, are given in the 
notes.f 

Of all the Oaks yet known, as the British species 
affords the best timber, so the Quercus sessilis, or second 
kind mentioned, is the most superior of the British 
species. This tree is distinguished by its tendency to 
spread out at top ; thence it is usually called the spread- 
ing Oak. The roots grow deeper and more straggling ; 
the bark is rough ; the wood is close in the grain, tough, 
and dark-coloured ; the acorns are sessile, growing in 
clusters, and without foot-stalks ; whereas the leaves 
have pretty long foot-stalks ; they are also less deeply 
sinuated than those of the upright Oak, but are of a 



Note II. 



t Note III. 



292 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



darker gi'een, and, therefore, it has sometimes been called 
the Bay Oak ; the leaves, likewise, adhere to the tree dur- 
ing the winter. 

This species, I conceive, particularly deserves to be 
called the native Oak of Britain, it being much hardier 
than the upright kind. Also it is a much later plant ; 
and abounds in ancient woodlands and native copses, on 
the banks of lakes and rivers. It has two varieties, as 
above stated, the black and the white : the former is 
known by the black, or dark colour of its bark ; the 
latter by its shining silvery bark, its clean and upright 
stem, and resemblance in that respect to the upright Oak. 
But both are remarkable for the fulness of their leaves in 
winter ; when, on the first frosts in November, before the 
upright species is usually affected, they turn to a brownish 
yellow, and continue, like the beech, to clothe the tree, until 
the new foliage displace them in the following summer. 

The first-mentioned or stalk-fruited Oak {Quercus 
pedunculata) grows much taller and more erect than the 
other, and has been thence named the upright Oak. It 
is considerably cleaner in the stem ; it has, also, smoother 
bark ; and, although the grain is softer, less close and 
tough, and lighter in the colour, it furnishes, in consequence 
of its height of stem, timber of superior length, and more 
applicable to many purposes. It bears, likewise, a larger 
acorn, with very long foot-stalks, — hence its name of stalk- 
fruited ; but the leaves have no foot-stalks, and drop off 
at the fall, or at least early in the winter. It is, upon the 
whole, an earlier and much less hardy tree than the 
other, and wiU not thrive in the same exposm^es. That 
it yields timber of a superior quality to that of the 
spreading Oak, has been said by some. But it is one of 
those popular errors which are contradicted by fact and 
experience ; and, as it seems to have originated in the 



TPIE planter's guide. 



293 



misunderstanding of a passage in Evelyn, and circulated 
on his authority, it will be most easily corrected by con- 
sidering the passage itself, and comparing it with the con- 
text of that intelligent writer/'' But as he expressly says 
that the upright Oak is " fittest for timber,'' merely from 
the uprightness and cleanness of its stem, it should be 
remembered how much length of stem in any tree 
depends on judicious pruning ; moreover, that one of the 
new varieties of the Oak — namely, the white aboriginal 
— eminently possesses the same advantage by nature as 
the upright species. 

In respect to the third kind, namely, the mossy-cup 
Oak, [Quercus muscosa,) from what we have seen of it 
for about threescore years, it promises to rival in hardi- 
ness the spreading Oak itself, while it surpasses in light- 
ness and beauty the stalk-fruited species. It possesses, 
likewise, the important property of thriving on very dry, 
and even sandy soil, as well nearly as on strong loam, 
and in that respect is preferable to the two other kinds. 
This tree was first imported into Scotland about the 
middle of the last century, from the district of Genesse 
in New York, on Hudson's river, for the botanic garden 
of Edinburgh, and seems well adapted to our insular 
climate. 

As has been observed above, it is a remarkable circum- 
stance that the most ornamental tree in nature should 
also be the one the most extensively and strikingly 
useful. There is scarce a trade or employment, a species 
of manufacture, or an object of commerce, in which the 
Oak is not more or less in request, for its wood, its bark, 
its fruit, and even its leaves : to the architect, the joiner, 
the millwright, the tanner, the husbandman, the dyer, tho 



* Note IY, 



294 



THE PLANTEE's GUIDE, 



druggist, the gardener, it is essential. But wliat is by 
far the most important, in a national point of view, it has 
furnished, and we trust it will continue fco furnish, the 
material for those powerful navies which, in British 
hands, command the ocean. 

The Oak, when young, is rather a delicate plant, and 
will not thrive without considerable warmth, or, in other 
words, considerable shelter. As it advances, however, it 
becomes more hardy ; and, after thirty or forty years, 
there is no tree that will better resist the elements. 
When young, it wonderfully adapts itself to almost any 
kind of soil, although it wdll not attain great magnitude, 
unless in one that is very deep, loamy, and calcareous. 
As to picturesque effect, it is susceptible of it in a very 
superior degree, and is equally fitted for the natural and 
the artificial landscape. Its singular spread of top enables 
it to receive great masses of light, while the abrupt and 
almost rectangular style of its ramification gives it endless 
variety. 

Perhaps there is no writer, ancient or modern, who 
has, within a narrow compass, touched with greater force 
and truth the striking characteristics of the Oak, than 
Virgil, in his second Georgic. When he speaks of the 
prodigious vigour with which it shoots aloft into the air, 
and descends nearly as deep into the bowels of the earth ; 
of its strength, fitted to resist and brave the wintry 
storms ; of its surprising longevity, so much surpassing 
the puny age of man ; of its vast and giant arms, its 
wide-spreading and gnarled boughs ; we conceive that w^e 
see before us the very object itself, under its expansive 
shade of top ; while the ponderous trunk stands in the 
midst, and sustains the mighty burden. 

''iEsculus imprimis, quae quantum vertice ad auras 
J2thereas, tantum radice in Tartara tendit. 



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295 



Ergo non hyemes illam, non flabra, uon imbres 
Convelluut : immota manet, multosque per annos 
Malta viruiii volvens durando secula vincit : 
Tvini fortes late ramos et brachia tendens 
Hue illue, media ipsa ingentem sustinet umbram." * 

In fact, this noble tree is at once so perfectly magni- 
ficent and so perfectly beautiful, that it may with pro- 
priety be introduced, by the painter or the designer, into 
the greatest scenes, or it may be made to adorn the least ; 
for it will give majesty to the grove, consequence to the 
lawn, and shade and coolness to the most sequestered 
retreat. In a word, it is the tree of all others which we 
should be most ambitious to possess in our parks and 
pleasure-grounds, and to transplant, if possible, with 
success. But that is an achievement in which most 
planters have failed, and in which none, as far as I know, 
have fully succeeded. 

When I first made the attempt, many years ago, I 
removed this, as I did many other trees, with very little 
knowledge of the subject. With the whole of them it 
appeared that, if they could only be kept alive, with their 
branches entire, during the first season after transplanta- 
tion, the chief difficulty was surmounted. The second 
year was always sure to prove more favourable than the 
first, until the tree gradually recovered from the severity 
of the process. JSTot so, however, with the Oak. Although 
certainly as much, and usually more trouble was taken 
with it than with any other tree, the result was wholly 
different. During the first season, the appearance of the 
leaf was full and promising, and shoots of even one and 
two inches came out. Yet, in the following spring, the 
plant usually languished, and died outright before mid- 
summer was past. In a few instances, it lived throughout 



Georgics, lib, ii. 291. See also Note V. 



296 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



the second season, jet always gave way by the summer 
of the third. 

Being extremely partial to this noble tree, and having, 
at the time, a number of fine subjects for removal, I 
resolved not to be discouraged. Sometimes I imputed 
my losses to too early, and sometimes to too late planting; 
and sometimes I referred them to late frosts and unpro- 
pitious seasons. A number of beautiful plants, from five- 
and-twenty to thirty feet high, were again set out on the 
most loamy parts of the park ; which, being their favourite 
soil, furnished the best prospect of success. But, to my 
unspeakable mortification, not one in twenty survived. 
I fairly own that I now lost resolution to persevere ; and 
I abandoned altogether the transplanting of the Oak, as 
an object which, however much to be desired, seemed 
unattainable by any methods within my reach. 

Three or four years after this, on reverting, .with 
regret, to these circumstances, and examining the few 
plants that had survived the fate of the rest, I found 
some of the facts attending them particularly deserving 
of attention. The greater part seemed to be of a species 
of the Oak which, as a distinct kind, had never till now 
attracted my notice. Like the Beech, it seemed to 
retain a fall coat of leaves during the winter ; and, like 
the Beech also, the leaves adhered closely to it till the 
month of May, and, in a late season, even till the middle 
of June, when the old were replaced by the new. With 
this sort of Oak I resolved to make another trial. I 
selected two spreading plants of considerable size, on 
which the leaves seemed to be niost thickly set, and the 
bark of the darkest colour I could procure. I resolved, 
moreover, to adopt a later season for the removal than I 
had done formerly, — namely, the first week of April, — 
before the spring drought should decidedly set in. 



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297 



About tins new attempt I felt not very sanguine. All 
the circumstances attending it seemed unpropitious. The 
trees themselves were too tall for their girth, and their 
roots far inferior to those of others which had died on the 
former occasion almost universally. To mj great satis- 
faction, however, it was crowned with success. After 
this, another trial was made with two trees quite upright 
in their form, with white and silvery bark, but perfectly 
retentive of their leaves to the same late period ; and the 
result was not less satisfactory than in the foregoing 
example. In a word, it now appeared clear that the 
remarkable property of heeping the leaf during the winter, 
and especially during the whole of the following spring, 
or that of dropping it in November or December, was 
the true criterion for the selection of the best subjects for 
this operation. 

Instead of the perpetual miscarriage which I formerly 
experienced, I had now discovered the road to success. 
The later, likewise, that I planted the trees, even down 
to the second week of May, the result appeared to 
be the more encouraging and satisfactory. In more 
than a hundred Oaks, which I have since removed, I 
scarcely think that more than three have died ; a loss 
almost incredibly small, and somewhat less than the 
average amount of deaths in the most successful removals. 
The truth is, that were I to name one tree more than 
another that I could now undertake to transplant with 
success, (the Lime, Horse-chestnut, and perhaps the Elm, 
excepted,) it would be the aboriginal oak, black and 
white. Under that name, therefore, I beg leave to 
introduce both kinds to the notice of the reader, as 
varieties of the sessile-fruited or spreading Oak. They 
are by far the most hardy of the Oak family. The white 
or upright sort possesses all the advantages which superior 



298 



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stateliness and cleanness of stem give in general to the 
stalk-fruited over the sessile-fruited species ; while the 
adaptation of the latter to naval and other purposes, 
renders it more worthy of cultivation than any other kind 
with which we are acquainted. 

The circumstances attending these experiments, which 
proved so interesting and instructive to myself, I have 
detailed with some minuteness, as they may, perhaps, 
prove interesting to others. I shall now add the con- 
clusions, or practical principles, which I deduced from 
them, and by which I have been since guided in the 
management of this charming tree. That they are 
founded in nature I cannot entertain a doubt, as many 
years' experience has tended more and more to confirm 
them. 

In the first place, I found that the spreading Oak 
(Quercus rohur sessilis) is decidedly a much more hardy 
plant than the upright or stalk-fruited ; that it always 
bears removal better, and grows more vigorously after 
being removed. And I hold that, to any one practically 
acquainted with the subject, no proof more decisive of the 
fact can be adduced, than its being able, in a full-grown 
state, to recover with such ease from the severity of that 
operation. I have known considerable trees of this sort, 
standing single in the park, shoot more than six inches in 
the third year after being transplanted ; a length which 
the real planter will admit to be pretty remarkable in an 
exposed situation. 

Of this species, (I mean the spreading Oak,) the two 
varieties first observed by myself, — namely, the black and 
white aboriginal — are the hardiest of all, and carry their 
leaf latest, always, indeed, till the commencement of the 
ensuing summer. It is true, we may often find Oaks, 
clearly sessile-fruited, with long foot-stalks to the leaves. 



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299 



aud every other characteristic mark, retaining their rnsset 
clothing, some longer, and some shorter, after the month 
of February : but the true aboriginal varieties retain it 
nearly till June, if the wood have been fairly ripened ; 
and the plants are uniformly more late in themselves, and 
more hardy accordingly. It is, therefore, quite useless 
for practice (if the greatest possible success be the aim of 
the planter) curiously to inquire into other botanical 
distinctions, however uniformly they may be found to 
exist. The fact of these trees fully and pertinaciously 
carrying the leaf longer than the Beech, at once strikes 
the most unscientific eye, and renders all other rules for 
selecting the best sort superfluous. 

Secondly, it appeared that although, for the purpose of 
transplanting, the spreading Oak is beyond question the 
hardier tree, yet it is by no means understood to be to 
the exclusion of the upright. That most magnificent and 
stately plant, I have found it practicable also to remove ; 
but far greater nicety and precaution are requisite in every 
part of the process, both as to previous preparation, and 
the mode and season of the execution. Probably the 
later it is transplanted in the spring, previously to the 
movement of the sap — that is, before May — the greater will 
be the chance of success. In creating park-scenery by 
means of the transplanting machine, a skilful planter, if 
he have any idea of the principles of landscape, will per- 
ceive that each kind of Oak has its appropriate use. On 
the bolder, poorer, and more elevated grounds he will 
generally put the spreading sort ; for the lower, richer, and 
more sheltered, where stateliness and elevation are wanted, 
he will reserve the upright. Besides, as in every part of 
Britain the upright Oaks are at least twenty to one the 
more numerous, the transplanter's powers would be ex- 
tremely cramped and limited were they confined solely 



300 



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to the spreading species, especially in the execution of 
extensive designs. 

The only other species that from these experiments 
seemed adapted to removal, is the mossy-cup Oak, 
[Quercus muscosa,) which, as has been abeady said, is 
a native of North America. I doubt if it be much known 
in England, although the Tm^key sort, with large cups, 
{Q. cegilops) certainly has for almost a century. The 
American tree, however, has not as yet been long enough 
in Scotland to make its wood known to us, but from every 
appearance, we may augur of it favourably as a valuable 
timber-tree. Not having planted many myself, about 
five-and-thirty years ago, I have few subjects on which 
experiments can be made. I have removed one or 
two of from twenty to thirty feet high, under rather un- 
favourable circumstances, when their hardiness has sur- 
prised me. Like the British Oak, its roots will penetrate 
clay of the most obdurate kind. It carries the old foliage, 
and of a beautiful hue, till pretty late in the spring ; and 
it is further remarkable for being able to live, and even to 
grow with vigour in a light soil, which is extremely impor- 
tant in wooding parks or pleasure-grounds, where the soil 
is universally light, and where no other Oak would reach 
the size of a tree of the second class. In a word, it is a 
beautiful, light, and elegant plant, of the upright character, 
and, as such, I know none that sui-pass and few that equal it. 

Thirdly, it appeared that there is an important pecu- 
liarity respecting the season for planting, and stiU more 
for transplanting, the Oak in a fuU-grown state, in which 
it differs from the known rules for other deciduous trees. 
With the latter, the sooner you can remove them after the 
fall, the greater chance you will have of success ; or be- 
tween that period and the first week of April, when no 
trees in an ordinary season, except the Lime and the 



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301 



Horse-cliestniit, can be transplanted with perfect safety. 
From the experiments, however, detailed above, I am 
convinced that the Oak is not adapted by nature to the 
change at so early a season ; which seems to have the 
effect of chilling the roots and fibres, and rendering them 
unfit by the spring to perform their functions, and give 
proper nourishment to the plant. 

I should therefore advise, that Oaks never be trans- 
planted till the end of March, or beginning of April ; and 
in some late seasons, the work may with entire safety be 
continued till the second week of May. He, therefore, 
who is immindfol of this salutary precept, will oftentimes 
fail with the Oak, when, other things being equal, he might 
pretty certainly succeed. Mr Pontey, whose skill and 
experience as a planter no one will call in question, 
assures us, that he has known whole plantations of young 
Oaks give way in particular seasons from this cause ; and 
the late Lord Meadowbank, whose excellent little tract, 
entitled " Instructions to Foresters,'' is less known than it 
ought to be, fully concurs in the opinions above expressed. 

It is now about twelve years since the facts above 
stated were pressed upon my attention, from an anxious 
desire to bring the monarch of the wood within the sphere 
of the transplanting art. Since that period, I have taken 
every opportunity of observing the properties of the 
spreading Oak, together with its two varieties above 
described ; and I am enabled to attest not only its value 
as a subject for transplantation, but its general importance 
for the improvement of our woods, especially those in the 
higher latitudes. The richer soils and the more sheltered 
situations should, of course, be reserved for the upright 
Oak, whether as an object of beauty or utility. But I 
am convinced that, in a national view, the two species 
should be carefully discriminated and separately cultivated, 



♦ 

302 



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in those situations where they will thrive best, and make 
the best return to the planter. As it is, the upright Oak 
is a scarce plant, and, I may venture to affirm, not as yet 
known to the British public. 

This valuable tree abounds most in ancient forests. 
It is found in many places on the shores of Loch- 
lomond, and the Cumberland and Westmoreland lakes ; 
on the steep banks of the Clyde, the Lanarkshire 
Avon, the Tay, the Tees, the Wye, and other rivers, 
Scotch and English. In a word, it seems to be more or 
less the tenant of every British woodland not planted by 
the hand of man. This fact would incline us to believe 
that although, from neglect or accident, it has now become 
the rarer of our two native species, it was far from being 
so in ancient times. Its varieties, therefore, seem fairly 
entitled to the appellation which I have ventm^ed to give 
them. 

It is certain that the spreading Oak is the freest grower 
of the Oak family, as well as the hardiest ; of which last 
quahty no better proof needs be given than the one 
already mentioned — ^the patience with which it bears, and 
the facility with which it recovers from the operation of 
transplanting in a full-grown state. Were the Oaks of 
many of our plantations of this hardy species only, it is 
certain that extensive tracts of ground both in England 
and Scotland, where that most useful of trees is found to 
languish, would yield, if not stately timber, at least 
vigorous copse-woods, which would speedily repay, by 
means of their bark, the entire expense laid out upon 
them. Besides, the Oak could be thus raised in elevations 
where the most adventurous planters would not now think 
of risking them as objects of profit. 

That the same deficiency of the aboriginal kinds pre- 
vails in most of the late planted woods in England, I 



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303 



have eyery reason to think, from a survey which I not 
long since had occasion to take of many counties both in 
the north and south. The above remark, though probably 
new, is yet of considerable importance to those who , are 
possessed of extensive woodlands ; and as information, 
like an article of luxury, is commonly valued in propor- 
tion to the distance from which it comes, it is possible 
that these pages, should they attract the notice of the 
great Enghsh planters, may stimulate them to study the 
character of their own native Oak. By encouraging the 
growth of the kind which is the most beautiful and the 
most hardy, they will at once add value to their own 
woods, and compensate in some sort for the neglect with 
which it has been treated. 

In point of beauty, too, it is surprising what might 
be done by cultivating more extensively the aboriginal 
varieties of this valuable species. There are few persons 
who have not probably been struck with the fine and rich 
appearance occasioned by the young Beech, by way of 
copse-wood, in plantations during the winter and spring 
months. The aboriginal Oak is still more tenacious of 
its fohage than the Beech, as trees of the former, of thirty 
and forty feet high, are often found clothed with it at 
these seasons, which does not happen with the latter. 
This pleasing circumstance forms a striking winter feature, 
in the ancient copses and woodlands above alluded to ; 
and it might be transferred, by a planter of taste, with 
the happiest effect to all the plantations, but more especi- 
ally to the screens and masses of underwood, whict should 
give richness and variety to a gentleman's residence. 

Notwithstanding this prominent external mark, exclu- 
sively of all other botanical distinctions, it seems surpris- 
ing, that the above property of the Oak should hitherto 
have been unobserved by our nurserymen. On conversing 



304 



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with many of the most emment in the line, within the 
last few years, I have found them, one and all, un- 
acquainted with its existence ! Neither do om' best writers 
on woods, nor our most experienced planters, appear to 
have paid much attention to it. In a writer like Mr 
Pontey, who copies so little from others, and speaks 
chiefly from his own practice as a planter, we might have 
expected to find some hint of the singular properties of 
the plant, had it attracted much notice in England.'" 

It may appear somewhat sing-ular, on examining two 
different species of the same tree known as indigenous to 
Britain, to find the one so much scarcer than the other ; 
especially when the wood of the scarcer sort happens to 
be the superior in point of quality ; and above all, when 
it is better fitted for the highest of all British purposes, 
naval architecture. That it is owing to accident we can- 
not believe ; and since the improvement of our woods 
(which should be universally interesting) is in question, a 
little inquiry into the fact and its causes may not be con- 
sidered as out of place in the present discussion. 

In ancient times, when extensive forests covered a great 
part of our island, which, as we learn from Greek and 
Roman writers, consisted chiefly of Oak, Birch, and Scotch 
Fir, {Pinus silvestris) there is no room to doubt but that 
the spreading Oak abounded, as the ancient, hardy, and 
aboriginal tenant of the soil. Indeed, from the specimens 
dug up in the south, as well as the north, from under the 
Roman roads, and consequently of an age prior to their 
construction, there is every reason for confirming that 
opinion. In after times, as civihsation advanced, and the 
plough came to narrow the limits of the forest, the native 
woods gradually receded to the banks of rivers, and other 



* Note YI. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



305 



places, less fit for the labours of the husbandman. Parks 
and pleasui'e-grounds came then to be maintained as 
objects of luxury ; and in all that were planted for about 
two centmies, in England, little is to be seen but the 
upright Oak. Its acorns abounded most, and were most 
easily gathered, and consequently they supplied the 
readiest seed for the early planters. 

Even now, when planting is studied as an art, and 
botanical science is appHed to fix its principles and im- 
prove its practice, few persons are at the trouble to raise 
their own nm^sery plants. Hence, with the increase of 
wealth, and a taste for gardening or rural embellishment 
in England, the trade of a nurseryman in that country 
became one of immense extent and importance. In 
Scotland, also, where the good and the bad in English 
habits and manners are alike imitated, a predilection has 
arisen for this charming art ; and the nurseryman, in like 
manner, has here become the universal caterer for the 
planter, oh a scale of no small magnitude in proportion to 
our resources.* 

By the Scottish nurseryman, it appears that acorns 
are to be had cheapest in the London market, which is 
for the most part supplied from Kent, Sussex, Hampshire, 
and other southern counties, where there are very few 
spreading Oaks. If one of the trade from time to time 
accidentally procure a few bushels of acorns from Cumber- 
land or the Highlands, his customers fortunately share 
in the plants that are produced by them. But the acorns 
of the upright species, being the larger and plumper of 
the two, as weU as the cheaper, pass even with those 
dealers who are truly desirous to have the best seed. It 
seems on this account, chiefly, that Oaks of the spreading 

* Note VIL 

U 



306 



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kind are comparatively so rare in tliis country, as three- 
fourths of the extensive woods with which it is now 
clothed have been planted in this way, and within the 
above period. 

There is likewise another cause, which may have con- 
tributed towards the same effect. About threescore 
years since, as I am informed, and up to the time of the 
last Avar, the nurserymen of Edinburgh were sometimes 
in the habit of importing acorns from the Continent, which 
came down the Elbe and the Rhine. These were usually 
from the great German forests, which consist mostly of 
upright Oaks. They were of a less hardy kind ; and 
what is worse, they were decidedly inferior in respect to 
wood to the English. This still further helped to deteri- 
orate our plantations. Whether the same branch of trade 
still subsists, I am not informed. But the above I take to 
be the reason why we find among our upright Oaks of 
from thirty to fifty years' standing, plainly two sorts ; the 
one a much freer grower than the other — the former being 
the produce of the British, and the latter of the German 
seed. 

From these causes, and a want of botanical science 
among our nurserymen, it is easy to see how the upright 
species of Oak comes to prevail in our plantations. But 
from whatever cause it may proceed, and in whichever 
way our plantations may have suffered, it would be some- 
thing worse than absurd to throw any blame on this 
respectable class of men. Let that attach to the quarter 
to which it belongs — the utter indolence and want of 
science conspicuous among their employers. If nursery- 
men be not respectable botanists, but mere dealers in the 
articles which they sell, it is for want of proper encour- 
agement to be otherwise. If they possess little knowledge 
of the actual nature and properties of trees, and less desire 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



307 



to improve them, it is solely because their employers seem 
quite unconcerned and indifferent as to these important 
subjects. While noblemen and gentlemen, who make 
extensive plantations, have no rule of preference in nursery 
plants but their cheapness, he necessarily must, in their 
eyes, be the best nurseryman, who can raise the greatest 
number of plants, whether Oaks or others, on the smallest 
space of ground, and furnish them consequently at the 
lowest price. It is quite obvious, therefore, that the 
cheapest acorns, as we have seen, being those of the up- 
right Oak, nothing except that species is ever thought of 
or cultivated. 

In such a state of things, I conceive that it would be 
worthy of the Highland Society of Scotland, as the 
general patrons of planting and agriculture, to honour 
with their notice the cultivation of the sessile-fruited or 
spreading Oak, and especially of its two varieties now. 
brought into view. By holding out a premium to the 
nurseryman who should raise the greatest number of 
healthy plants of this description, there is little doubt but 
that the superior value of the tree would ere long become 
known to the public. Were this done, the judges em- 
powered to decide should not pronounce before the 1st of 
February in any year, for the tree itself, nor before the 1st 
of May, for the two varieties or aboriginal kinds ; and no 
specimens without a fuU coat of foliage, should be admitted 
to the competition. By these means, and by a due atten- 
tion to the botanical characteristics, all spurious sorts 
would be effectually excluded. The two aboriginal sorts, 
and especially the white, from its upright and stately 
character, would, for clean stem and fine timber, soon 
come into fashion with the great planters of the north ; 
and public-spirited individuals, on a small scale, would 
speedily follow their example. 



308 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



But the Higliland Society have mucli more in their 
power than this for promoting the advancement of the 
woods of the kingdom — I mean, the improving of the 
method of raising nursery plants. It is true, by a liberal 
encouragement given by it to men of industry and inge- 
nuity, essays of a superior order on the nature and cul- 
tivation of plantations have lately appeared, and a spirit 
of emulation and enterprise has been excited in conse- 
quence. But, without an entire reform in the system of 
our arboriculture, it must be apparent to any one ac- 
quainted with the subject, that the main impediment to 
obtaining productive woods, within a reasonable period, 
never can be removed. I feel confident, were the business 
taken up with the usual energy of a body possessing 
within itself so large a portion of the rank, wealth, and 
intelligence of the nation, that planting would soon be 
added to the number of the arts which have received the 
most sohd improvements from the Society's patronage. 
This, however, is a subject that would requii^e almost a 
separate essay.''' 

Were these pages addressed to gardeners only, or to 
persons particularly conversant with trees, I should here 
close my observations on the Oak. But, being anxious 
that they should prove as useful as possible to country 
gentlemen and others, who might wish to direct their own 
operations, I will add one other remark. 

In speaking of the properties of all trees, it is to be 
understood, that what is said of them above, can apply 
only to specimens in a state of perfect vigour and sound- 
ness. When they chance to sufi'er by an unfavourable 
season, or other material accident, they must be inferior 
for the time, at least, in respect to their external manifes- 



* Note VIII. 



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309 



tations. In respect to the spreading Oak, after a bad 
season, it is not easy to distinguish it from the upright, 
bj the most obvious of its peculiarities, the retention of 
the leaf. A summer, for example, like that of 1823, 
which was singularly cold and wet, produced a striking 
effect on the whole vegetive tribe ; and it could hardly 
be expected in any Oak (as the tree makes its shoots twice 
in the season) that the wood should be well ripened, nor, 
by consequence, the leaves perfect. In the same way, 
deep trenching round the tree, severe cutting of the roots, 
and still more the operation of removal itself, are sure to 
occasion like effects. 

For this reason it is important, in selecting the plants 
proper for removal, to do it after a season that has been 
tolerably good, and when they have not been deteriorated 
by external accident. In this case, the characteristic of 
retaining the foliage will always appear prominent. I 
have in preparation at present, in open plantations, a 
number of aboriginal Oaks, which, after the fall of 1824 
(the succeeding year,) could not at once be recognised as 
such, owing to a deficiency of leaves, although they carried 
them in abundance during the whole season, both before 
and after. In like manner, it is to be remarked, that few 
spreading Oaks will recover so perfect a circulation of 
their sap, as to enable them to retain the leaf throughout 
the season, until about the third year after removal. 

I have dwelt longer on the Oak than perhaps might 
seem necessary, on account of the unequalled value and 
beauty of the tree, and its peculiar adaptation to trans- 
planting, whether as grove or copse-wood, provided the 
proper method be adopted. Besides the main object of 
obviating the difficulty of the process, the interest and 
general importance of the collateral details will, I am 
persuaded, recommend them to the notice of the reader. 



SECTION XIII. 



OF THE ASH — ELM — BEECH. 
THE ASH. 

Next to the Oak, the Ash {Fraxinus excelsior) 
deserves the precedency before all other trees, as it comes 
the nearest to the Oak in point of general utility as 
well as beauty. Of the fourteen kinds of this tree, enu- 
merated by Willdenow, the one only just now mentioned 
belongs to Britain. The rest are natives of America ; 
but several of them from the northern parts deserve cul- 
tivation in this climate.''^ 

The universal utility of the Ash is so well known that 
it is almost superfluous to enlarge upon it. In the arts, 
in peace, as well as war, in husbandry, architecture, manu- 
factures, it is equally conspicuous. It is celebrated by 
Evelyn, as being " the sweetest of our forest fuelling, and 
fittest for ladies' chambers.'' It will, also, burn even 
when green, and may therefore " be reckoned,'' he says, 
among ^v\a aKanvay " or wood without smoke. As to 
its beauty, the Oak has been sometimes called the 
Hercules, and the Ash the Venus of the forest. 
" The comparison," as Gilpin observes, " is extremely 
just ; as the Oak joins the idea of strength joined to 
beauty, while the Ash unites the ideas of beauty and 



* Note I. 



THE planter's guide. 



311 



elegance." Nothing, in my mind, can be more exquisitely 
graceful tlian a young Ash, in the vigour of health, with 
the full luxuriance of its light-green tresses. When 
Horace conceived the idea of the silvarum comcB, I think 
he must have had this lovely tree especially in his eye. 

The main characteristic of the Ash is lightness. In 
close plantations or woods it rises to a great height, and 
with a much more considerable length of stem than the 
Oak ; but, when it has free room to expand, it throws out 
its branches with a wide and easy sweep ; and the loose- 
ness of the foliage, corresponding with the lightness of 
the spray, renders it one of the most striking lawn trees 
of the pendent form. This tree delights in a soil that is 
deep and dry, and especially if calcareous. It will 
thrive, also, where there is abundance of moisture ; but it 
abhors a bottom of obdurate and retentive clay, on which, 
without a great depth of mould above, it will not grow to 
good timber. 

There is no tree that transplants better than the Ash. 
To an extensive park it is well adapted for single trees or 
groups ; and it easily harmonises with any scenery, whe- 
ther of a bold or a placid character. Its roots and fibres 
are extremely numerous ; and such is the power which it 
possesses of deep rooting, {tantus amor terrce) and so 
readily does it exert that power in an open soil, that it 
can resist the winds with nearly the same stubbornness 
and pertinacity as the Oak itself. It will likewise, better 
than most trees, resist the sea-breeze. On account of the 
fibrousness of its roots, it has the advantage of very sel- 
dom suffering from drought after removal, and never from 
blight. You will, therefore, not lose one in fifty, if the 
operation be performed with tolerable skill and attention. 
As to the season for the work, it may be any time from 
the fall to the first week of April ; the earlier certainly 



312 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



the better ; but later than that period will not be attended 
with uniform success. 

The Ash has only two faults, which it is proper to 
notice, as affecting transplantation, or at least the 
extensive application of it, to this beautiful tree. The 
one is, that the roots are so extremely fibrous, and occupy 
the surface near it so completely, that there is little pab- 
ulum or moisture left for any thing else. On which 
account it is best grouped by itself, or perhaps with the 
Oak, which penetrates still deeper into the earth. The 
second fault is, that, as it acquires its leaves late, so it 
unfortunately loses them early in the season — ^the reverse 
of what we find in most trees ; and the leaA^es being much 
more tender than those of others, receive a premature 
impression from early frosts. Instead of contributing to 
the variegated tints of autumnal foliage, it drops them at 
once, and makes a dreary blank for weeks, where it 
happens to predominate. There is yet another fault, or 
rather misfortune, attending the Ash. Its leaf and rind 
furnish the most delicious food for deer ; on which 
account it is necessary to protect it with extraordinary 
vigilance where that species of stock is kept. 

For the two reasons first mentioned, the Ash will be 
found rather unfit for foregrounds, or the sides of dressed 
walks, or for kept ground of any sort near the mansion 
house. In the immediate neighbourhood of approaches^ 
likewise, it would be advisable to introduce it sparingly, 
and in any other very prominent part of a place. 

There is one peculiarly beautiful variety of this tree, 
which I shall mention here, as it seems to have escaped 
the notice of preceding writers — Professor Martin ex- 
cepted — I mean the pendent Ash {F. excelsior ramis pen- 
dalis) Every one must have observed the disposition to 
pendency in the branches of the Ash, but still that they 



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313 



decidedly turn upwards at the extremities. In the tree in 
question, there is little or no such upward turn : but the 
spray continues pendent nearly to the points, gracefully 
clustering and intertwisting its shoots like the tendrils of 
the Vine. As the tree acquires age, this resemblance to 
the Vine is greatly increased, rendering it an object sin- 
gularly interesting and picturesque. The bark of this 
variety is somewhat whiter than that of the common 
Ash, and sometimes fluted ; the leaf is more elongated 
and serrated ; and it displays the spiral and lofty form, 
even in situations where it has room to spread. 

Some noble specimens of it were formerly to be seen 
at this place. In my younger days, as I remember, there 
was one of about twenty feet in girth, and above seventy 
feet high, which had the trunk so completely hollowed out 
as to hold several persons in the cavity. It was known 
by the terrific name of " The Jugg Tree ; " having upon 
it the ancient iron collar called " The Juggs,'' so well 
known in Scotland for confining the necks of culprits or 
criminals.'''' There was lately another tree of the same 
kind, still more beautiful, and upwards of eighty feet 
high. It measured in girth sixteen feet and a half, at 
three feet from the ground, and was blown down only in 
the spring of 1821, in one of the terrible hurricanes of 
that year. As there is no plant more hardy or more 
beautiful than the Pendent Ash, I should earnestly re- 
commend it to the notice of all lovers of trees, whether for 
planting or transplanting.! 

THE ELM. 

The Elm is the next tree in rank and value to the Oak 
and Ash. It is a native of Britain ; at least one of the 

* Note II. f Note III. 



314 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



principal species certainly is, as we are enabled to ascer- 
tain bj the best evidence ; but there seems no tree 
respecting which greater confusion prevails among botan- 
ists, and indeed all writers on wood. 

The Elm, as Hanburj observes, is the most perplexing 
of all trees, as its varieties appear infinite, and the shades 
of distinction between them the least easily ascertainable. 
The great botanist of Upsal no doubt saw this difficulty ; 
and therefore, with the exception of what he denominates 
the American, and another exotic kind, he slumps the 
whole under one head, namely, that of Ulmus Campes- 
tris. But we must acknowledge that there was more of 
indolence, or at least of haste, than ingenuity in this, as it 
was merely recognising not resolving the difficulty. 

Miller, in his great work, enumerates six different 
species ; Hanbury and Willdenow, seven ; Hunter, in his 
edition of Evelyn, only one ; Professor Martyn gives seven ; 
and they all mention that there are innumerable varieties, 
which it would be useless and impossible to describe. 
The fact is, that there are now admitted to be about nine 
distinct species, independently of varieties. Late botan- 
ists, however, such as Sir James Smith, have judiciously 
limited the distinct kinds to two, from which all the rest 
are supposed to spring. But every writer seems to have 
his own theory, and delivers his own account of the tree, 
which is extremely perplexing to the uninformed planter. 

Marshall, who is far from being accurate or scientific in 
general in his descriptions of trees, is the only one, as far 
as I know, who has given an account, simple as well as 
practical; I will therefore adopt it, as sufficient for our 
purpose, although it may not be botanically accurate. It 
comprises the whole under two heads : — 

I. The coarse-leaved, broad-leaved, chestnut-leaved 
Elm, otherwise the witch or north country Elm, which 



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315 



is most commonly found in the midland and northern 
parts of the island. Late authors alFect to write it 
" Wjch," but without any good reason for departing from 
the ancient orthography of the name. This plant is 
clearly indigenous to every part of Britain. 

II. The fine-leaved, narrow-leayed, or south-country 
Elm, which more peculiarly belongs to the southern dis- 
tricts. It is most probably not indigenous, and is there- 
fore not entitled to the precedency which some writers 
giye it. In this part of the kingdom, the two kinds are 
universally known by the names of the Scotch and Eng- 
lish Elm, than which certainly nothing can be less appro- 
priate. For the botanical descriptions, see the Note.'" 

In respect to the first species, the broad-leaved or 
witch Elm, it is found in every part of England and Scot- 
land; and in the former country, it attains to great age 
and magnitude.! There are also nearly forty places in 
England that take their names from it, the most of 
which are mentioned in Doomsday Book. These two 
circumstances clearly show it to be of our own native 
growth ; and on that account it might with great propriety 
be called the British or indigenous Elm. Of this sort 
there is a valuable variety, the Witch Hazel, or rough and 
very broad-leaved Elm, so called from the resemblance of 
the leaves and young shoots to those of the Hazel, and 
which, being much earlier in coming out than the other, is 
more fit for being planted near habitations. By most 
botanists the Witch Hazel is considered as a distinct 
species. It might very properly be called the early Elm. 

The second kind — that is, the narrow-leaved or English 
Elm — is more than suspected to be of foreign origin, as no 
ancient trees are any where found of it. Evelyn and 



* Note IV. 



t Note V. 



316 



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Miller inform us, that it was imported about two centuries 
since from Germany or France, or possibly from Lombardy, 
as great numbers are to be seen growing in the last- 
mentioned country; but that it had not been long in 
England in the time of Charles II. It abounds at 
present in all the southern and south-western counties of 
England, but it never perfects its seed in Britain. This 
circumstance, together with the fact already stated of no 
ancient trees of the kind existing, is sufficient to convince 
us that it derives its origin from more southern latitudes. 

It is, however, now nearly naturalised, and a very 
noble as well as useful tree. It will grow with aston- 
ishing luxuriance in a deep and rich loam, united with a 
mild climate. The growth of the English Elm so situated, 
compared with that of the Oak, has been found to be 
nearly as three to two. Although there are at present 
no specimens of it of very great size, yet from what we 
know of the vigour of some now on record, it bids fair in 
another century to become the pride of the English forest, 
at least in the southern districts of the kingdom."' 

In comparing the two trees, it may be said that the 
outline or general appearance of the Scotch or Witch Elm, 
though less stately than that of the English, is strongly 
featured, approaching nearly to the majesty of the Oak, 
for which, at a mature age, it might be mistaken at a dis- 
tance. It is in general inclined to be ragged or scraggy, 
from the disposition of the branches and the thinness of 
the spray ; but it is more picturesque than the Enghsh, as 
is admitted by Gilpin, a judge not easily satisfied in that 
particular. On a foreground, he says, it is unquestion- 
ably so, as it hangs more negligently ; though at the same 
time, with this negligence, it loses in some measure that 



Note VI. 



THE PLAKTER'S GUIDE. 



317 



happy surface for catching masses of hght, which in the 
other is so much admired by the painter.'"' 

As a useful tree the Elm is held in high esteem. The 
whole Elm family, indeed, possess more or less a peculiar 
excellence in which they stand completely unriyalled. The 
Oak is eminent for strength and durability ; the Ash com- 
paratiyely for toughness ; the beech, for closeness of 
texture and cleannesss of grain ; but the Elm, for the 
tenacity and adhesiyeness of its parts, being less liable to 
split than any other species of timber whateyer. This 
quality renders it singularly useful for yarious important 
purposes — such as the nayes of wheel-carriages of eyery 
description, water-wheels, pipes, pumps, &c. Besides, the 
keels of ships are now almost uniyersally laid with Elm, 
and frequently the gunwales of yessels of war are made of 
it. It is less apt to splinter in action than eyen Oak ; 
and the keels, in the same way, are less liable to split in 
taking the ground. 

Of the two species of Elm, writers are not agreed as to 
which furnishes the best timber. Of late authors, Dr 
Yuile, on the authority seemingly of Sir James Smith, 
decides in fayour of the English ; but the Scotch sort 
seems to haye the suffrage of the carpenters, who in some 
parts of England, by way of pre-eminence, call it the naye 
Elm. As Mr Pontey, howeyer, truly obseryes, the fact of 
the competition proyes that " both kinds must be yery 
good.^^ He mentions, also, haying procured a yariety for 
his nursery at Huddersfield, which grows as erect as the 
English, and is a quicker grower than either of the 
sorts, which may turn out a considerable acquisition to 
planters, f 

The favourite soil of the Elm is a deep rich loam, and 



* See Forest Scenery, vol. i. p. 43. 



t Note VII. 



318 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



it will not eyen reject what to most trees "woiild be a 
superabundance of moisture. Like the Oak, it surpris- 
ingly accommodates itself to almost any soil — a light and 
sandy one excepted, on which it wiU not succeed, nor pay 
the planter. In the county of Norfolk, for example, or 
on the fertile though light coast of East Lothian, there is 
not, generally speaking, a good — that is, a large — Elm. In 
those light districts it pushes vigorously at first, and may 
reach a foot or more in diameter ; but it soon after decays 
at the heart, and if not cut down in time, becomes useless 
altogether for timber. 

" The Elm,''' says Gilpin, " is the first tree that salutes 
the early spring with its light and cheerful green.'' This 
may possibly be the case in Hampshire ; but in these 
northern latitudes where there is often little spring at aU, 
I cannot say that it is a particularly early tree ; at least 
it is surpassed in that property by the Poplar and Larch, 
which are oui' earliest here ; by the Sycamore, which next 
comes out, and also by the Horse-chestnut, which is not 
far behind the Sycamore. It possesses, however, gi'eat 
facilities for transplantation, and indeed it has been long 
celebrated for such. Evelyn, who does not seeui to have 
much practised the art, informs us that you may remove 
Elms of twenty years' growth with undoubted success ; 
and that he himself removed one, by way of experiment, 
"almost as big as his waist," having fii^st totally dis- 
branched it. 

Generally speaking, if we except perhaps the Beech, a 
tree will transplant well, or the contrary, in proportion to 
fibrousness of its roots. But the Elm possesses roots in 
which the fibres are not only abundant, but where the 
larger roots are of so very pliant and flexible a kind, as 
readily to extend themselves in every direction in search 
of food. In respect to the proper season for removal, any 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



319 



time will suit, from October to May. As with most trees 
which may be propagated by layers, you cannot fail with 
this, (the early Elm or Witch Hazel especially,) unless 
through uncommon mismanagement, or a want of roots 
and branches proportioned to the top. In the latter case, 
I have known the Elm languish, and lose its top, after 
being transplanted of a large size ; but I have scarcely 
ever known it die outright. There is likewise no tree 
that is more hardy, or opposes a stouter front to the blast ; 
and none, perhaps, that better resists the sea-breeze, the 
Sycamore excepted. 

Let it be observed that I here speak of the true indi- 
genous, or Scotch Elm only. Of the English Elm I have 
little experience as a subject for transplantation. I can 
raise it with tolerable success in close plantations, if it 
have been grafted on the British ; and I have even set it 
out in the open park of about eighteen feet high, taking 
care to choose the most sheltered situations ; and there it 
seems to grow as well as could have been anticipated in 
an alien to the climate. But a transplanter of skill has a 
right to expect that his trees should not only grow, but 
thrive in severe exposures. I fear, therefore, that the 
English Elm in general in Scotland must be classed with 
the Ilex and the Walnut, which, beautiful as they are, are 
to be considered among what Mason calls " the shivering 
rarities," on which no certain reliance can be placed, and 
which prudence would direct our planters as well as 
transplanters rather to avoid : — 

" Yet let us call on those of hardy class 
Indigenous, who, patient of the change 
From heat to cold, which Albion hourly feels,' 
Are braced with strength to brave it. Those alone 
We call our friends; 

That veteran troop, who will not for a blast 
Of nipping air, like cowards quit the field." * 
* English Garden, Book iii. p. 244. 



320 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



There is no part of the lawn or park which the Scotch 
Elm is not calculated to shelter as well as to adorn — the 
foreground, the offskip, or the third distance of the land- 
scape. In the plain, it is always striking as a single tree ; 
and in grouping of every sort, it harmonises with the Oak, 
the Ash, the Beech, and others. It is hardy enough, 
moreover, to climb the steeps of the most rugged moun- 
tains, and to fling its luxuriant copse between the fissures 
of the rocks, with few companions but the Oak and the 
mountain Ash. For close woods, therefore, that are to 
be raised at once by means of the transplanting machine, 
whether for shelter or ornament, it is invaluable, not only 
as a lofty tree and a free grower in standards, but for 
underwood of the closest kind. 

The Witch Hazel, or early Elm, (which may be con- 
sidered either as a variety or a distinct species,) probably 
exceeds in luxuriance and hardness all the rest of the 
Elm family. In its young shoots and leaves, it bears an 
intimate resemblance to the Hazel. The flowers are red, 
with long leafy impalements of a green colour, and come 
out prematurely in the spring, before the leaves {/ilius 
ante patrem) ; therefore, in copses it is beautiful. It was 
of the boughs of this tough and elastic tree that the long- 
' bow of our hardy ancestors was often made, and which 
they drew with such efi'ect in war, or in the chase; a 
striking contrast to the uses to which it has since been 
applied. 

THE BEECH. 

We now come to the fourth tree in rank and estima- 
tion in the British forest, namely, the Beech. Some, as 
already noticed, but most absurdly, have denied it a place 



THE planter's guide. 



321 



among the pre-eminent forest trees, or timber trees as they 
are technically called.'^' 

Of this fine tree there is, properly speaking, but one 
species, [Fagus sylvatica,) the common Beech. Linnaeus 
has joined to it the Chestnut ; but there is sufficient 
reason from their properties, as well as from conyenience, 
to keep them separate. The Beech has two remarkable 
varieties, the spreading and the upright, or the early and 
the late. These are improperly called by some, the wild 
and the mountain, and by others, the white and the black 
Beech. t Both Miller and Professor Martyn are of opi- 
nion that there is but one kind of this tree, and that the 
lightness and darkness in the colour of the wood (which 
they conceiye have given rise to the notion of two sorts) 
are the mere effects of soil. But neither of those judi- 
cious writers, nor any writer hitherto, as far as I know, has 
noticed the actual points of difference between them, 
which are their very different style of ramification, and 
their late and early leaf. From a very close attention to 
the Beech, I am quite satisfied that there are two vari- 
eties, if not two distinct species of the tree, and that the 
characteristics just now mentioned are clearly distinguish- 
able. To planters, and especially to those who wish to 
produce immediate effects by means of the transplanting 
machine, these distinctive properties are extremely inter- 
esting, from the very different purposes to which the tree 
will in consequence be applied. 

The Beech, like the Oak, is of the glandiferous class of 
trees. It is probably a native of Britain, as well as of 
several other European countries, although the fact as to 
the former has been doubted by some writers. Caesar 
positively asserts that he did not perceive here, as in 



Note VIII. 



t Note IX. 

X 



322 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



France, the Spruce Fir or tbe Beech {neque Fagum neque 
Ahietem.) Ray thinks that the Fag us of the Romans is 
not the same as the (pijyos of the Greeks, which was a kind 
of Oak. Yet as there is no other way of accounting for 
the assertion of so accurate an observer as Caesar, some 
scholars have supposed, and not without reason, that the 
Fagus of Csesar, Virgil, and Vitruyius, is a species of Oak, 
and not the Beech. At all events, our Beech is the o^m 
of the Greeks, as we learn from the French traveller 
Belon; and that it is still called by that name on Mount 
Athos.'" 

The Beech may be justly esteemed inferior only to the 
Oak and the Ash in point of utility ; as, considering the 
variety of purposes to which it is applied, it equals or 
perhaps exceeds the Elm. It is almost as necessary to 
turners, carpenters, and cabinet-makers, as the Oak is to 
ship-builders, or the Ash to plough and cart-wrights. In 
various branches of machinery and manufactures its use- 
fulness is well known, particularly in wheel, cooper, and 
mill work ; and nearly as good as the Elm for the keels, 
stems, and stern-posts of the largest ships. The grain is 
of a fine texture, although rather spongy and alluring to 
the worm ; but this defect may be remedied by steeping 
it for a short, time in water. By late experiments it has 
been ascertained, or at least made probable, that if kept 
altogether under water, it will last for centuries. f 

In stateliness and grandeur the Beech vies with the 
Oak itself ; the branches are large and spreading ; the 
stem swells to a great size ; the bark is eminently smooth, 
and of a silvery cast ; and this, together with the general 
softness and splendour of the foliage, renders it one of the 
most magnificent and beautiful trees in the park. This 



Note X. 



t Note XI. 



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323 



tree deliglits most in light, clialkj, or sandy loams, and 
calcareous soils, in all of which it shoots with wonderful 
vigom\ It will gTow likewise on stiff soils, though not with 
the same luxuriance ; but it is decidedly the hardiest of all 
deciduous trees, and will succeed where the soil is too wet, 
or too dry, and I may also add too poor, for most other 
trees to live. It is for that reason quite inyaluable to the 
planter or the transplanter, whether for utility or ornament. 

But, says Gilpin, (whose taste it would be a bold mea- 
sure to call in question,) the Beech is not a picturesque tree, 
although it is one of great fame in that particular. The 
trunk, he admits, is often picturesque from its bold pro- 
jections, its irregular flutings, and the mosses and lichens 
with wliich it is diversified. Its beautiful smoothness 
likewise contrasts agTeeably with these rougher append- 
ages. He farther allows that the tree is sometimes of 
very happy composition, from the light and floating cha- 
racter of the foliage ; but that, contrary to the general 
■nature of trees, it is most pleasing in its juyenile state ; 
therefore a young Beech with its spiry branches, hanging 
in loose and easy forms, is often beautiful. However, the 
forest Beech, in a dry and hungiy soil, will often preserve 
the lightness of youth in the maturity of age. Fm'ther, 
this accurate observer acknowledges that the leaf of these 
trees, young and old, is most accommodating in landscape ; 
that the beauty of their autumnal hues, of a glowing 
orange, is striking to a degree ; and that when they are 
seen with the Oak, yet verdant, it produces one of the 
finest oppositions of tint that the forest can furnish. Even 
the pleasing circumstance of the lover being tempted by 
the softness of the bark to cut his mistress's name in it, 
does not escape him. It conveys, he says, a happy 
emblem : — 

" Crescent illse, crescetis amores." 



324 



THE planter's guide. 



Notwithstanding this just and ingenious eulogium, the 
Beech, according to Gilpin, is nevertheless a heavy tree ; 
it has completely the appearance of an overgrown bush. 
When massy and fdl-grown, it is therefore displeasing. 
It is made up, he says, of littleness, and is seldom in 
harmony with itself. Though with branches fantastically 
wreathed, it is rarely well ramified. It is without the 
strength and firmness which we admire in the Oak, or the 
easy simplicity which pleases us in the Ash. In a word, 
it does not exhibit those tufted cups, those hollow and 
dark recesses, which dispart the branches of the most 
beautiful kinds of forest trees, and render them attractive 
to the pictm^esque eye. After all, however, he adds, " the 
Beech has sometimes its beauties, and oftener its use. In 
distance, it preserves the depth of the forest ; and in the 
corner of a landscape, when we want a heavy tree, nothing 
answers our pm^pose like the Beech." That is to say, that 
the main reason for which it is objected to — namely, its 
heaviness — forms its chief claim to distinction with the 
painters, who should be the arbiters of picturesque merit ; 
and this singular eulogium is concluded by the remark, 
that he supposes the tree has acquired its reputation, 
chiefly from having a peculiar character, which, with all 
its defects, he owns it certainly has.'" 

I have thus given the substance of the praise and the 
censure of Gilpin, as nearly as may be in his own words : 
and, in fact, were I to adduce any evidence, more strong 
than another, of the picturesque merits or partial defects 
of the Beech, it would be in the good-humoured fastidi- 
ousness of this pleasing writer. It is probable that he 
had been accustomed to hear the Beech overpraised, and 
that he resolved to counteract the opinion, by some salu- 



* See Forest Scenery, vol. i. p. 45-50. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



325 



tary and coimtervailing disparagement. But Gilpin's ob- 
ject was merely the consideration of the external form of 
trees, as applicable to landscape. Had he had occasion 
to investigate their history and properties, his remarks 
would have appeared less contradictory, as he would then 
have given them a more appropriate application. In this 
case, he would have been aware that there are two dis- 
tinct sorts or varieties of the tree, and that all he says is 
quite true ; though not of any one of those species, but of 
the two species respectively. He would thus have been 
satisfied, that the earlj or spreading kind is as remarkable, 
whether young or old, for its light, airy, and picturesque 
character, as the late or upright is for its heaviness. 

As the name of so popular a writer as Gilpin has 
given currency to some unjust prejudice against a tree 
which is eminently useful, as well as beautiful, I shall be 
the more particular in describing its two varieties in 
question, for the information of the planter. 

The writers who have paid most attention to the 
Beech, have given it two varieties, as already mentioned, 
the black and the white. But, in calling them by those 
names, they have stated no marks of distinction that can 
be uniformly recognised ; as the colour of the bark, or, 
according to some, of the wood, is often the effect of soil 
and climate, and not of any pecuKar properties inherent 
in the trees themselves. Accordingly, we find the bark 
of all Beeches, in close and shady groves, usually glossy 
and of a light hue, whereas it is always rougher and 
darker in open exposures. 

There is no tree, the Oak excepted, in which these two 
varieties, the spreading and the upright, are more dis- 
tinctly delineated than in this. In its style of ramifica- 
tion, the spreading sort at a distance somewhat resembles 
the Lime, as may be seen by comparing the two when 



326 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



the leaves are off ; only, that the branches in the former 
are less closely set, and therefore hang more loosely or 
negligently. Its slender spray, however, has nearly the 
same pendent character as that of the Lime, while the 
whole tree is far superior in point of lightness and trans- 
parency. This sort — I mean the spreading Beech — 
always drops its leaves at the fall, and is considerably 
earlier in obtaining them in the spring ; it being some- 
times observed to be in full leaf while the buds of the 
other sort are only beginning to burst. 

The upright or late Beech is altogether of a different 
character, and seemingly the more hardy of the two. Its 
branches are far more numerous, and more thickly set. 
At a short distance from the stem, they bend decidedly 
upwards, and give it a spiral form ; yet strongly exhibit- 
ing that heaviness of which Gilpin complains, and which 
is so unfavourable for receiving, like the Oak and Ash, 
great masses of light. This kind retains its leaves dur- 
ing the winter, at least while young ; and, indeed, they 
tenaciously adhere to it till late in the spring or begin- 
ning of summer, when the old are pushed off by the new. 
It is remarkable that the upright Beech, although the 
least handsome of the two, is by far the more common, at 
least in Scotland, where, for one decidedly pendent, you will 
see twenty that are of the spiral sort. Whoever atten- 
tively considers this short account, and compares it with 
the trees themselves, will at once perceive the justice of 
the foregoing remarks on the description of Gilpin, and 
the true scope and meaning of that accurate observer. 

The great utility and importance of the Beech in form- 
ing natural landscape are abundantly obvious. In wood- 
ing a park or lawn of any extent, it is plain that the 
skilful planter wiU apply the two varieties to very diffe- 
rent purposes. Near the mansion-house or principal 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



327 



approaches, he will, of course, prefer the early Beech ; but 
where thick and heavy trees are wanted to break obtru- 
sive views, or shut out displeasing objects, the late or 
upright kind will at once recommend itself. In like manner, 
where interesting scenery is to be introduced, whether 
near or distant, the slender boughs of the spreading or 
early sort will be found to play upon it more beautifully 
than those of almost any other tree of the forest, half con- 
cealing and half revealing the different objects, according 
to the planter's fancy : 

" Here the thin Abole, 
"With lofty bole and bare, the smooth-stem'd Beech, 
Or slender Alder, give our eye free space 
Beneath their boughs to catch each lessening charm. 
E'en to the far horizon's azure bound."* 

Besides the importance of the Beech as a lawn tree, I 
know no one of equal utility in transplanting close woods 
(as hereafter to be explained) or in bush-planting in the 
park, I mean as underwood, in which case it must, of 
course, be kept carefully headed down. Being patient of 
the knife, it is admirably adapted to promote both close- 
ness and variety, especially in plantations of limited 
depth. It prevents the eye from wandering among the 
stems of the standards or grove-wood, and perceiving the 
limits of the boundary. Besides, the cheerful green which 
it wears, and the sober brown, and sometimes bright 
orange of its winter foliage, give a richness quite 
unequalled by any other plant. I have already recom- 
mended, and I trust with some effect, the aboriginal Oak 
as a powerful auxiliary for this purpose ; and when we 
reflect on the rapidity and certainty with which the Beech 
thrives in all soils and in all situations, I have little doubt 



* English Garden, B. iii. 214. 



328 



THE planter's guide. 



of its becoming a favourite in the same department. 
There is no plant that in any wise equals it for winter 
copse, except the holly. But there is not one situation 
in a thousand, where that eyergreen, hardy as it is, will 
grow with luxuriance ; and to a planter of taste, luxuii- 
ance of growth is every thing. 

In new places or parks, at least in Scotland, or in such 
as have been planted within the last forty years, where 
the Firs and other nurses are cut away, or jDerhaps where 
the latter unduly prevail, a striking poverty or stemminess 
usually offends the eye, both in summer and winter, even in 
close plantations, or such as are meant to be close. In 
general, you may see half a mile under the boughs, unless 
your view be intercepted by some inequality in the sur- 
face. Were the Beech and the aboriginal Oak copiously 
introduced into such woods, it would give them an extra- 
ordinary richness to the most unobserving eye, and in 
many districts quite alter the aspect of the country. 

Where old copse-woods are cut over, hkewise^ the Oak 
and the Beech, together with the Holly, (if on a light and 
calcareous soil,) may be introduced with admirable effect. 
But it is to be understood that I mean only in situations 
where ornamental or picturesque scenery, and not profit ; 
is the object of the owner. Near a gentleman's residence, 
however, there are few who will grudge a moderate 
sacrifice of the latter to obtain a pleasing union of both 
objects. For "bush planting" in the park, by means of 
the transplanting machine, no given tree exceeds the 
Beech, on account of several of the properties above 
noticed. This is a practice which is wholly new, at least 
in Scotland ; but I trust it will prove (as described in 
the sequel) not uninteresting to the reader. 

There is another very important use to which the 
Beech has of late years been applied, (and, I believe, first 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



329 



bj myself) — I mean tlie improYement of field-hedges. 
The species of plant generally used for hedges in this 
country, is the common Hawthorn or Quick, [Cratcegus 
oxyacantlia,) — but that, although a free grower, cannot be 
called a yery hardy plant, as it is found to fail in yery 
light and grayelly, and on yery cold and stiff soils. The 
Beech, therefore, used in this way, has turned out a sur- 
prising improyement.'" 

From what has been said, it is eyident that there is no 
tree more desirable for transplantation than the Beech, 
and none which at first sight ought better to succeed. 
Its roots, unlike those of the Oak, are extremely fibrous : 
they seek their food near the surface, so that they may 
easily be multiplied by proper training. The best season 
for remoying the tree seems to be immediately after the 
fall, at all eyents not later than the subsequent February ; 
as there is no plant that requires so much time for the 
mould to settle round the roots, in order to preyent the 
injurious eff'ect of the spring droughts. But, do what 
you will, it is a capricious subject to deal with, and the 
one of all others with which success can with the least 
certainty be anticipated, from any degree of care and 
precaution. 

The difficult point seems to be to keep it aliye during 
the first season ; and if you can surmount that difficulty 
there is little danger, as I scarcely eyer knew an instance 
of a Beech dying afterwards. Sometimes it will succeed 
to admiration Ayhen you least expect it, and sometimes it 
will fail, after you haye done all you can do to render 
failure impossible. The most remarkable thing about it 
is, that, contrary to the general nature of trees, the more 
vigorously it shoots at first, the greater is the danger of 



* Note XII. 



330 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



its afterwards giving way. That accident, however, 
happens frequently in a day, perhaps in an hour, and 
usually about midsummer or the beginning of autumn, 
by some sudden blight, for which it is as difficult to 
account as it is hopeless to remedy. At other times, it 
will decay by slow degrees ; leaf after leaf becomes 
shrivelled up and discoloured ; and, after languishing for 
weeks, it Avill die at last, but always before the middle of 
autumn. 

From the great utility of the Beech for every purpose, 
but especially for clothing those thin, poor, and gravelly 
soils about a place, where nothing else will vegetate, it is 
important to discover some method of obviating what the 
Scotch gardeners call this singular " dortiness " in its 
character.'" It seems plain that it proceeds from a great 
susceptibility in the roots and fibres of exposure to the 
atmosphere. That necessarily disables them from supply- 
ing proper nourishment to the sap-vessels ; which, being 
injured, fail in their turn to perform their functions. It 
is on this account that we find that late planting in the 
spring is fatal to the Beech, beyond all other trees ; 
because in that case there is not time for the earth to 
become consolidated round the roots, before the drought 
of summer sets in. 

That this theory is correct I have some reason to 
believe ; yet the causes on which it depends lie hid from 
the human eye, and, therefore, the best naturahsts can 
only form probable conjectures concerning them. Some 
years since, when every Beech I had removed during the 
season failed, excepting three, my attention was turned to 
an examination of the circumstances under which the 
latter had succeeded ; and it seemed the more remark- 



NOTE XIII. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



331 



able that those three were all of the spreading sort, which 
is more delicate than the upright. On examination I 
found that a heap of earth, near the spot, (which had 
been intended for compost,) was bj accident wheeled up 
against the trees, covering their roots for several yards out, 
and to the depth of between two and three feet above the 
natural smface. The effect thus occasioned, of retaining 
the moisture, was abundantly striking, from the deep and 
healthful green of their leaves ; for, although not a drop 
of rain fell for six weeks, during the months of June and 
July, yet no watering was required by them. 

Since the period in question I have tried the same 
experiment, and with similar success. But, as quan- 
tities of earth are not always at hand, a substitute 
has been adopted which is more easy of transportation. 
It consists of the coarsest refuse of flax-mills, after both 
the tow and the flax have been separated, and therefore 
of no value whatever for any other purpose. This sub- 
stance is always to be found in abundance at such places. 
By laying it as far out from the tree as the roots extend, 
and to the depth of from four to six inches, it forms 
nearly as good a covering as three times the earth, for the 
intended purpose. As it is both close and light in its 
texture, it is well adapted to receive as well as to retain 
the moisture, that may be supplied either by rain or by 
the watering-pan. 

Of late years, however, I have attempted a bolder 
remedy, which, whether it be ultimately found to succeed 
or not, is worthy of the planter's attention. This is no 
less than to remove the tree previously to the ascension 
of the sap, and while the leaves are in full verdure.'''' 
The beginning or middle of October I should consider as 



* Note XIV. 



332 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



the proper time for the operation, when a week or two 
of fine weather usually occur in this ever variable 
climate. Of the Beeches which I have removed at this 
season, had the leaves immediately dropped off, I should 
not have been discouraged ; but it is singular, that in 
every instance they adhered in spite of the severity of 
the process, and that the discoloration followed in the 
ordinary manner. This method has not as yet been tried 
on any extensive scale, or on subjects of great magnitude ; 
but it promises to remedy the most striking defect of this 
desirable tree, and to place it upon a footing with others 
possessing the greatest facilities of removal. 

Before taking leave of the Beech, it may be proper to 
notice a striking circumstance respecting the early and late 
kinds, in as far as hardiness, and of course facility of 
transplanting, is concerned. In the course of this review 
of the four principal forest trees, we have seen that such 
varieties exist in three of them — namely, the Oak, the Elm, 
and the Beech ; and we shall find in the sequel, that 
they equally exist in the Sycamore, the Maple, and some 
others. In one and all of these, except perhaps the Elm, 
experience has taught us that the latest hinds always 
transplant the best, and that in fact lateness and hardiness 
are nearly convertible terms in respect to the whole of 
them. It is, no doubt, to be regretted, that, as in the 
instance of the Beech and the Sycamore, the greatest 
hardiness and the greatest picturesque beauty do not go 
together, which is the case with the Oak and the Ash. 
But a planter of skill will duly weigh and provide against 
those characteristic peculiarities in the former ; and accord- 
ing to the kinds wanted, or the effects to be produced 
in his landscape, he will endeavour to compensate for 
what nature has denied, by science and industry. 



SECTION XIV. 



OF THE SYCAMOEE — NORWAY MAPLE — CHESTNUT — HOESE 
CHESTNUT — LIME — SCOTCH FIE— WILD CHEEEY — LAECH — 
BIECH — HAWTHOEN — MOUNTAIN ASH. 

Hayiis^g examined at so much length the nature and 
properties of the four principal forest trees — the Oak, the 
Ash, the Elm, and the Beech — it is not necessary to dwell 
on those of the others with the same degree of minute- 
ness. In real or artificial landscape, although these will 
always be the staple of the composition, yet there are 
some other trees, which may be esteemed little short of 
them for effect in the picturesque details of an extensive 
lawn or park in this climate, and are therefore worthy of 
particular attention. Under that head I should class the 
Sycamore, Norway Maple, Chestnut, Horse-chestnut, Lime, 
Scotch Fir, Wild Cherry, Larch, and Birch ; and perhaps 
the Hawthorn and the Mountain Ash might be added to 
the number. 

Of the rest, some may be considered as materials for 
underwood, and some as exotics, which should be encour- 
aged only under the most fayourable circumstances of 
both climate and soil. I know, in respect to exotics, that 
fashion in the present day has ordained otherwise ; but 
that mandate weighs little with me, who follow no guides 
but reflection and experience. But if I may presume to 
dissent from that great arbitress of science as well as 
taste, I should yenture to recommend, to the young 



334 



THE PLANTEE's guide. 



planter, as well as transplanter, to cultivate only what will 
grow well in the soil and climate in whicli it happens to 
be placed ; and that he should rather be ambitious of 
vigorous and luxuriant shoots in his woods, than of the 
rarest names in the nurseryman's catalogue. There are, 
nevertheless, judicious friends of mine, persons of consider- 
able information and intelligence, who place but a small 
value on the former when compared with the consequence 
which they conceive to belong to the latter object. 

The first tree in point of rank and importance, after 
the four distinguished forest trees above mentioned, is 

THE SYCAMORE, OR GREATER MAPLE. 

The Sycamore, {A cer pseudo-platanus) is of the Maple 
family, and usually called in Scotland the Plane-tree. 
This and the Norway Maple, being the only two of that 
genus which grow to great timber, well deserve to be 
separately classed among our principal forest trees ; but 
most of the other Maples — the sugar Maple, the common, 
and the Ash-leaved kinds excepted (which may be con- 
sidered as middle -rank trees) — are little better than shrubs 
in this climate. The Sycamore has two distinct varieties, 
the early and the late, which I do not know that any 
other writer has noticed.'" 

This noble tree is a native of Switzerland, Austria, and 
Italy, where it grows wild in mountainous situations, but 
in the opinion of most naturalists, it is not indigenous to 
Britain. Ray speaks of it in his time as common about 
churchyards, avenues, and noblemen's seats ; so that it 
has been naturalised at least two or three centuries, and 
is justly regarded as one of our hardiest and most beauti- 



* Note I. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



335 



M forest trees. In point of utility, it ranks deservedly 
high, being in great request with the turners, the carpenters, 
and the mill-wrights. In many parts of Scotland, it bears 
a price superior to that of the Elm or Ash. The wood, 
like that of the sugar Maple, is said to give out in burning 
a greater proportion of heat than most other trees ; the 
charcoal made of it is preferable for the forge to any other, 
kind, and is said to possess a specific gravity one-fifth 
greater than any known charcoal.'" 

The Sycamore grows to a great size in this our northern 
climate, and is eminent as a lawn tree for the amplitude 
of its leaf and its spreading top. Even Gilpin, fastidious 
as he is, allows it a considerable share of picturesque 
merit. It is particularly valuable in extensive park 
plantations, as it will grow freely in any ground which 
has a light and porous subsoil. f There is, perhaps, no 
tree so well adapted to open exposures, or that will so 
firmly resist the blast. It never shows, as most trees do 
in such situations, what is called a weatherside, but 
balances itself equally in spite of every wind that blows. 
The value of the Sycamore, as a nurse in young planta- 
tions, has never been sufficiently appreciated. In such 
especially as are exposed to the sea-breeze, it ranks higher 
than the Scotch Fir or the Larch ; for in that atmosphere, 
while every other plant seems to droop around it, it stands 
erect and vigorous, bidding defiance to the tempest. 

This beautiful tree is among the first in our climn,te 
that cheers the spring with its vivid green ; and it is to 
be lamented that it should be the first to fade, on the 
slightest breath of autumnal frost. What renders it so 
peculiarly valuable to the transplanter, is both its hardi- 
ness in bearing the process of removal, and its facility in 

* Mem. Caledon. Hort. Soc, vol. ii. p. 383. f Note II. 



336 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



recoyering from it. Independently of the former property, 
the roots are disposed to become extremely fibrous, in 
consequence of preparation, or in good resting-ground 
without it, which greatly expedites its recovery. 

In the jDark here, there are to be seen Sycamores, from 
eight-and-twenty to five-and-thirty feet high, standing 
single, or in scattered groups, in the most exposed situa- 
tions, and shooting more than two and a half feet after 
the fourth and fifth year, as is attested by the Report of 
the Highland Society of Scotland. 

There is another quality for which the Sycamore is of 
great value to the planter, and that is the ease with which 
it accommodates itself to removal at almost any season. 
While with other trees, such as the Oak and the Beech, 
you must study particular seasons, the Sycamore may be 
removed at all times, and even during severe frost, from 
the fall to the very bursting of the bud. Even the full 
ascent of the sap in the spring offers no insurmountable 
impediment. 

The only fault which the most captious have been able 
to find with this charuiing tree, is that, from the sweetness 
of the juice exuding from the leaves, they are apt to be 
perforated soon after midsummer by insects ; and as the 
leaves fall off* with the earliest frosts, they turn, like those 
of the Ash, to a disagreeable mucillage, which without 
doubt pollutes the trim surface of dressed walks and 
shaven grass-plats, when they happen to be within their 
reach. But this, which is noticed in rather a puerile style 
by Evelyn, isjuit a slight blemish amidst so many excel- 
lencies. 

Between the two varieties of the Sycamore, now for the 
first time brought into notice, the early and the late, there 
appears to be little difference either in their ramification, 
their spray, or their leaves ; but the former comes out a 



THE PLANTEli's GUIDE. 



337 



fortnight, and sometimes three weeks, before the latter in 
the same climate and soil. In removal, the late sort has 
some advantage over the early, which usually happens with 
other trees. It is therefore important for the trans- 
planter to discriminate between the two sorts, and to mark 
them out in the foregoing spring; so that he may have it 
in his power to place them in different situations, and 
apply them to different purposes. 

THE NOEWAY MAPLE. 

This elegant tree {Acer platanoides) is a native of 
Norway, as its name imports. It is extremely hardy, and 
attains a great size in Britain. It is esteemed by some 
a handsomer tree than the greater Maple or Sycamore, 
and seems applicable to almost every purpose to which 
the latter is adapted, whether as a lawn tree or as under- 
wood. The top also is not less spreading, and the leaves 
far more beautiful ; the latter being of smooth and shin- 
ing green, like those of the Occidental Platanus, and nearly 
of equal magnitude. In autumn, they assume a bright 
gold colour, and form with the Oak one of the finest 
oppositions of tint of which the forest can boast. The 
flowers are likewise extremely beautiful. They come out 
early in the spring, are of a fine yellow colour, and show 
themselves to advantage before the appearance of the 
leaves. In point of picturesque beauty, th€ Norway 
Maple is not inferior either to the Sycamore or any of 
the Plane tribe. 

I entertain no doubt that this tree, from what I have 
seen of it, would transplant at any size, and with as great 
facility and success as the Sycamore ; and it would form 

* Note III. 

Y 



338 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



an important addition to our parks and plantations. It 
seems to liave been known in England above a century, 
at all events since tlie time wlien Miller first wrote. But 
its introduction into Scotland is of a later date ; and 
until witbin tbese few years it was little known to planters. 
Having no plants myself above seven or eiglit years old, 
I cannot speak as to its transplanting from experience. 
As to bardiness and quickness of growtb, it is surpassed 
by no tree whatever. 

Miller says, that " be believes'^ (but be gives no autbo- 
rity) tbat tbe Norway Maple will answer tlie same purpose 
for plantations near tbe sea as tbe Sycamore ; an opinion 
wbicb is magnified into an assertion of tbe fact by succeed- 
ing writers. Tbe assertion, if correct, will make tbis tree 
extremely valuable to persons possessing maritime situa- 
tions, wbetber for planting or transplanting. It is not 
nearly so wonderful as one lately made, upon tbe most 
respectable authority — namely, tbat we bave now an Oak, 
to tbe full growtb of wbicb tbe sea-breeze is favourable, 
if not indispensable.'"' 

THE CHESTNUT. 

Tbe Cbestnut, or, as it is sometimes called, tbe Spanisb 
Cbestnut, (probably from its attaining great perfection in 
Spain,) deserves to be placed in tbe first class of forest 
trees, wbetber we consider its uncommon beauty wbile 
growing, or its uses wben cut down. Linnaeus bas witb 
great botanical propriety classed it in tbe Beecb family, 
and named it Fagus castanea; but estabbsbed custom, 
as well as convenience of arrangement, argues for a separ- 
ate classification.! 



* Note IV. 



t Note V. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



339 



There is enumerated one other kind — namely, the 
dwarf American Chestnut, {Fagus pumila,) or Chestnut 
with spear-shaped leaves. It rises to the height of ten 
or twelve feet, and although said to be hardy, is a plant of 
little value. To this Dr Yule has of late meritoriously 
added another kind, Castanea microcarpa, which is 
deserving of being naturalised in our climate. Michaux 
found it on the mountains of North Carolina, of fifteen 
and sixteen feet in cu'cumference, and of a proportionable 
height.*"' 

The Chestnut is originally from Asia Minor, and not 
indigenous to any European country. Tiberius is said to 
have first brought it from Sardis in Lydia, to Italy ; and 
being soon after propagated in France, it was carried to 
Britain. It is a native of several other parts of Asia, 
such as Cochin-China, Japan, &c. It now abounds in the 
mountainous parts of Italy, in Sicily, Switzerland, and 
Germany.! 

This noble tree having been so long naturalised in the 
temperate latitudes, grows to a great size in both divisions 
of this island ; but it requires a soil which is both deep 
and dry, and rather a favourable climate.;]; There is no 
tree that displays a finer form, or throws out its branches 
on every side more beautifully. It grows not unlike the 
Oak, as Gilpin justly observes ; but its ramification is 
more straggling, and it hangs more loosely and negligent- 
ly. The leaves are large, of a lucid green, and continue 
on the tree until late in the autumn, when they assume a 
splendid gold colour. They are by no means so liable to 
be attacked by insects as those of the Sycamore and the 
Oak, and therefore the tree is extremely well adapted to 
parks and plantations. There is no better food for deer 



* See Mem. Hort. Soc, vol. ii. p. 375, 
t Note VI. % Note VII. 



340 



THE planter's guide. 



and other animals than the nuts, which bj many of them 
are preferred to acorns. 

The uses of the wood of the Chestnut, like that of the 
Oak, are almost uniyersal. In some of these it surpasses 
the Oak itself, particularly in making vessels and casks 
for wine and other liquors ; as, when it is once duly 
seasoned, it neither shrinks nor swells. This excellence 
is well known in Italy, where it is held in greater esteem 
than any other timber. For buildings it is very service- 
able, and for all mill and water machinery. Chestnut 
pipes, for the conveyance of water, are of longer endurance 
than even those of Elm ; and poles for hops and vines, 
and likewise stakes of any sort, made of this wood, are 
preferred to every other for the same reason. Professor 
Martyn adduces satisfactory evidence to show, that Chest- 
nut gate-posts have been known to last more than half a 
century. It has been mentioned above that the nuts are 
grateful to animals; but in France and Italy they make a 
wholesome bread for the human species ; and also an 
elegant service, in various shapes, at the tables of the 
luxurious. 

It is a remarkable fact that the Chestnut abounded 
much more in Britain two or three centuries since than 
it does at present; although its scarcity has been lamented 
by every writer on planting, from the days of Evelyn and 
Miller down to our own times. Perhaps a disposition to 
decay at the heart, while it exhibits a healthful exterior, 
or what Evelyn calls a want of " sincerity may have 
excited against this wood some degi^ee of prejudice : but 
nothing can entirely account for the neglect of it in 
England, except the abundant importation, which has of 
late years taken place, of Fir-wood from the shores of the 
Baltic and from America. There is no doubt but that 
the old houses in London and Gloucester were constructed 



THE pla:n"ter's guide. 



341 



of this tree, although the timbers of some of them, as 
exainined by INIr Knight, might be of Oak ; and the 
roofs of Westminster Abbey, and the ParHament House 
in Edinburgh, attest its dm-ability. There are stiil 
remains of ancient Chestnuts in the old forests and 
chases in the neighbourhood of London. As there is no 
tree that deserves more to be recommended to the 
planter's notice, whether for planting or transplanting, I 
rejoice to perceive that a good deal has been done, within 
the last twenty years, both in Scotland and England, to 
provide a supply for another generation. 

The Chestnut thrives well in the valleys of the High- 
lands as well as in the low country of Scotland, parti- 
cularly at Dunkeld, Taymouth, and Inverary. It rejects 
land that is cold and clayey, and luxuriates most in a deep 
sandy loam, or in a gravelly and alluvial soil on the banks 
of rivers ; but it requires, as already stated, rather a 
mild climate. I do not consider my climate here (about 
four hundred feet above the level of the sea) as sufficiently 
good to raise it in perfection, as is proved by the constant 
tendency, when young, to lose its top-shoots in the spring, 
owing plainly to immaturity of the wood. 

Having neglected to plant the Chestnut thirty years 
ago, I regret that I cannot command now any subjects 
for transplantation ; but I have removed the tree for 
others with the greatest success. It is, however, to be 
observed, that it shares in the family failing, which has 
been above noticed in its relative, the Beech, — namely, a 
too great susceptibility in its roots and fibres of exposure 
to the atmosphere. On this account, precautions similar 
to those recommended for the Beech should be resorted 
to in transplanting it ; and especial care should be taken 
to perform the operation soon after the fall, and in no 
case later than the month of February. In transplanting 



342 



THE planter's GUIDE, 



for mixed plantations, there is no tree that makes more 
close or luxuriant underwood, for which purpose I have 
used it with great effect at this place ; but for standards 
it is less adapted, as, like the Ash, its shade is injurious 
to other plants. 

I must own that the Chestnut, with me, is an especial 
favourite : and, were I to name the tree which, for 
grandeur and richness of effect, I should wish to see pre- 
dominate, next the Oak, in a fine lawn or park, it would 
certainly be the Chestnut. It is this noble tree that 
graces the landscapes of Salvator Rosa. He took it in all 
its forms on the mountains of Calabria, where he chiefly 
painted ; and he has given a deserved share of reputation 
to its grand and picturesque character. He who, either 
as a painter or a planter, would become fully sensible of 
its uncommon merit, must study it in the landscapes of 
that great master. 

THE HOESE-CHESTNUT. 

This superb and showy tree {^scidus hippocastanum, 
V. Castanea equina) is a native of the north of Asia, 
from which country it was sent to Vienna, and from 
thence to France, in 1558. About thirty years after, it 
was first brought to England, but, according to Evelyn, 
immediately from the Levant, and has now been com- 
pletely naturalised to our colder climate. It has two 
varieties — the variegated and the scarlet -flowering, 
{j^sculus pavia,) which are extremely beautiful, but 
more fitted for the shrubbery than the park.'''" 

The Horse-Chestnut appears to have been so named 
from the resemblance of the nuts to those of the Chestnut, 

* Note VIH. 



THE planter's GUIDE, 



343 



and their being found useful for curing diseases in horses. 
" Among the Turks they are ground and mixed with the 
provender of their horses, especially those that are 
troubled with coughs, or are broken-winded ; in both of 
which disorders they are accounted good." ''^ 

The Horse-Chestnut is a tree of singular beauty, and of 
the most stately form. It rises, in favourite situations, to 
the height of eighty feet and upwards, throwing out its 
branches to a great width, and assuming in its top a 
parabolic shape. It forms, also, a most impenetrable 
shade. The leaves are large, fine, and palmated, and on 
one stalk decorated with large spikes of the richest white 
flowers streaked with yellow and rose-colour. This tree 
is peculiarly distinguished by the very rapid formation of 
its new shoots, which are often perfected in less than 
three weeks after the time of foliation. 

The Horse-Chestnut is a free grower, and likewise a 
very hardy plant. It easily accommodates itself to 
almost any soil of tolerable quality : but in a sandy 
loam it will make the most remarkable progress ; and, 
unless inclining to moisture, the leaves soon lose their 
verdure in the autumn. It is well adapted to lawns, and 
particularly to extensive parks, not only from the great 
size and spreading form of the top, but from the quantity 
of nuts it produces, which are an excellent food for deer 
in the rutting season. For single trees the Horse-Chest- 
nut stands almost unrivalled in the ornamental depart- 
ment ; and, when in full flower, I can name no tree which 
is so gay, and at the same time so splendid. Gilpin, 
nevertheless, calls it " heavy and disagreeable ; " and 
complains of its being without " those breaks which give 
an airiness and lightness, or at least a richness, to the 



Miller in voce. 



344 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



whole foliage."* But Gilpin is prejudiced against this 
tree, as well as the Beech, and speaks merely as a painter; 
by the rules of whose art, delightful as it is, the judicious 
planter must not at all times be governed. 

Of all the trees with which we are acquainted, the 
Horse-Chestnut, perhaps, may be said to transplant with 
the greatest facility. From the disposition to multiply 
which, on being cut, its roots and fibres display, there 
is none that may be better prepared for the purpose. 
Ignorance and unskilfalness may throw it back ; but 
scarcely any degree of ill usage will kill it outright in the 
process of removal. Miller says that, in transplantation, 
neither the roots nor the branches should be cut ; for that 
there is scarcely any tree that will not bear amputation 
better. In respect to the roots, I can only say that I 
never experience any such delicacy, and that they bear 
preparation fully as well as those of the Lime or the Ash. 

In respect to the wood, it is of small value. For 
making underground pipes for the conveyance of water, it 
will stand better than many harder woods ; and in some 
of the northern counties of England it is found useful to 
the turner. According to Hanbury, swine will fatten on 
the nuts. Upon estates which are under the fetters of a 
strict Scottish entail, I should recommend the Horse- 
Ohestnut to be especially cultivated as an ornament to 
the park, for no extravagant heir will ever cut it down 
for the value of the timber. 

It is an estimable property in this tree, that its roots 
are of a very hardy nature, and not easily injured by 
drought ; also, that it can be removed at almost any 
season, from the fall till the coming out of the leaves. As 
to the roots, the severest frost will scarcely hurt them ; 
and I have found large trees succeed admirably in trans- 

* Forest Scenery, vol. i, p. 64. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



345 



planting, althoiigli both tlieir roots and fibres had been 
exposed to a frosty atmosphere, with httle covering, for 
weeks together. This property affords great facihties to 
the planter in executing designs of any magnitude, where 
it is impossible to bestow an equal degree of attention 
upon every object. 

The Horse-Chestnut has no fault but one, and that is 
brittleness, which renders it obnoxious to the winds, and 
is often the cause of the branches being defaced by them. 
The fact is noticed by Evelyn ; but he does not add, 
because, perhaps, he was not aware, that it is by eddy 
winds only that material injury is done, and such as do 
not hit the tree fairly."^ This affords a useful lesson to 
the transplanter in the disposition of his trees of that 
species ; but the great boast of the Horse-Chestnut, and 
what makes it so delightful in this climate, is its early 
leaf, and the turgid richness of its opening buds in the 
spring, long before the foliation takes place, and when 
there is little else to cheer the eye in the shape of verdure. 

THE LIME. 

Of the Lime or Linden tree, {Tilia,) which is indige- 
nous to Britain, botanists now make but one species, the 
Tilia europcea. All the rest, which are numerous, are 
set down as varieties. The two principal are the red and 
the green-twigged, of which the former is by far the more 
beautiful, and more deserving of cultivation. f Both kinds, 
when raised from the seed, will grow to the height of 
seventy or eighty feet or more ; but they are deteriorated 
like all other trees by the practice of raising them from 
layers. The family of Linnaeus, the father of botany, is 
said to have had its name from this tree. 



* Note IX. 



t Note X. 



346 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



The Bun wood, a broad-leayed lime, {Tilia americana,) 
is from North America, and is justly recommended by 
Dr Yule for cultivation in this country. It rises to eighty 
feet in height ; and from the breadth of the leaves, and 
the elegance of its pendulous flowers, would prove ex- 
tremely ornamental to our lawns. The abundance of 
this stately species near the Lakes Ontario and Erie, 
gives sufficient earnest of its hardy character, while it 
diminishes in frequency as you proceed southwards.'''' 

There are few forest trees that make a richer appear- 
ance on the lawn than the Lime, and none that merits to 
be more assiduously cultivated in our parks. When 
avenues were in fashion in England, this tree was a 
greater favourite than it is at present. But its smooth 
and upright stem, its head of elliptic form, its flowers the 
delight of bees, its ample and floating foliage, all conspire 
to render it an object of uncommon dignity and beauty. 
Gilpin, with his usual fastidiousness, thinks it too formal 
and uniform in its outHne. To my eye it possesses a 
character at once graceful and magnificent : — 

" Stat Philyra; liaud omnes formosior altera surgit 
Inter Hamadryadas; mollissima, Candida^ Igevis, 
Et viridante com^, et beneolenti flore superba, 
Spargit adoratam late atque sequaliter umbram." 

CoNLEius, Lib. vi. 

Although it loses its leaves earlier in the autumn than 
some other trees, the red-twigged (which should always 
be preferred) in some measure compensates for that 
defect by the beautiful colour of its spray throughout the 
winter. For single and scattered trees the Lime is 
particularly fitted, from the excellence of its shade as well 
as the toughness of its branches, which last are very 

* Mem. Caledon. Hort. Soc. vol. ii. p. 393. Note XL 



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347 



rarely damaged hj the winds ; and sliould they occasion- 
ally suffer, there is no tree we know whose wounds so 
speedily heal. 

The Lime loves a deep and rich loam, but with a dry 
subsoil, in which species of ground it will shoot surpris- 
ingly, and attain a great size. But it is singular that 
this essential requisite in the subsoil has not been suffici- 
ently attended to by preceding writers, and, I am inclined 
to think, as little by planters ; else we should much oftener 
see this elegant tree in perfection. A subsoil of cold 
clay or bog it abhors ; and a fine Lime I belieye, of large 
dimensions, cannot be pointed out upon such a bottom. 
So adverse indeed is it to wet, that when it begins to 
languish in consequence of being planted on a thin 
mould, with a stiff clay below, it may be successively 
earthed up Hke celery in the kitchen garden, and thereby 
got into vigorous health. The process is a simple one. 
A body of good mould, about eighteen inches deep, and 
perhaps four or five yards in diameter, is laid upon the 
surface round the tree. A new set of roots from the 
stem is speedily thrown out, immediately above the old 
ones ; and the whole subsistence of the tree, together with 
a renovation of its vigour, is supplied by the superinduced 
stratum. The practice is probably new ; but he who tries 
it with care on a Lime which he is anxious to renovate, 
will find it to be successful.*'^ 

The utility of the Lime, as now considered, is not 
great ; so little that, when compared with that of the Oak, 
the Ash, and some other trees, I should not hesitate to 
recommend it as a suitable companion to the Horse- 
Chestnut in wooding the parks of Scotland, wherever the 
owner is partial to his place, and the estate happens to be 

* Note XII. 



348 



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under a strict entail. The nses, however, of the tree are 
associated with some pleasing recollections. 

The wood of the Lime, according to Evelyn, if well 
grown, is applicable to most purposes which the Willow 
supplies, and is superior to it in being stronger as well as 
lighter. It is in use by the turner for light bowls, boxes, 
and dishes. Its charcoal is celebrated, and is said to 
make as good gunpowder as that of the Alder itself. One 
circumstance should recommend the Lime to all lovers of 
the imitative arts. No wood is less subject to the worm, 
or so easily formed under the carver s chisel. The cele- 
brated Gibbon (whom Evelyn not without justice styles 
the English Lysippus, and whom he successfully recom- 
mended to Charles II.) always used it for that curious 
and elegant sculpture with which this ingenious artist 
adorned St Paul's Cathedral, the Duke of Devonshire's at 
Chatsworth, Trinity College Library, Cambridge, together 
with several of the old houses of the nobility. 

Evelyn likewise, with whom the tree is a favourite, 
yery loyally reminds us, that " its extraordinary candour 
and lightness has dignified it above aU the woods of our 
forest, in the hands of the white staff-officers of his 
Majesty's imperial household."'" The stately Limes in St 
James's Park were planted at the suggestion of Evelyn 
for the improvement of the air of that neighbourhood, as 
pointed out in his Fumifugium, in the same way as they 
are planted in Holland along the sides of the canals, 
where their flowers surprisingly refresh and perfume the 
air during the months of July and August. 

It seems to be clearly ascertained, that the ancient 
Philyra was the Tilia or Lime tree. By the Greeks its 
wood was made into bottles, which they finely rosined 



* Silva, vol. i. p. 206.— Edit. Hunter. 



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349 



inside. The Romans highly esteemed it for its shade, and 
considered it as among the most useful of trees. Tilice 
ad mille usus petendcEJ^' They made writing tablets of 
the bark, and they cut the thin skin which lies between 
the bark and the wood into shreds, and used it for tying 
garlands and chaplets, as we do ribbon. Paper for writing 
was also made of it, as is attested by Pliny. 

It has been said above, in speaking of the Horse- 
Chestnut, that perhaps no tree transplants with so much 
facility. If there be any one that merits the praise of 
equalling it, it is the Lime. The roots of the latter are 
naturally fibrous ; they bear preparation well, or they do 
without it; and a skilful pruner, while the tree is in the 
transplanting nursery, will in a short time train the top, 
either in the spiral or the spreading style, as best suits 
the views of the planter. In large designs of transplant- 
ing it gives a pleasing variety to underwood ; but, as it is 
a quick grower, it must be carefully kept under the disci- 
pline of the knife, in order to make it retain that 
character. 

It may be also said of this tree, as of the Horse- 
Chestnut and the Elm, that it accommodates itself to all 
seasons of the year for transplanting, from November till 
May ; and that, although it may be injured by violence or 
want of skill during the process, it will scarcely ever be 
killed outright by it. In the case of severe drought im- 
mediately succeeding the time of removal, or late frosts in 
the spring, it is apt sometimes to lose its top shoots. It 
forms, however, the best subject, together with the Horse- 
Chestnut, the Elm, and the Sycamore, on which the inex- 
perienced transplanter may try his skill. 



* Plin. Hist. Natur. Lib. xviii. p. 28. 



350 



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THE SCOTCH FIR. 

From the very different and sometimes superficial way 
in which this noble tree (Pin us sylvestris) is treated by 
the best writers, considerable perplexity respecting it is 
occasioned to the practical planter. Neither the arrange- 
ment of Linnaeus, the industry of Miller, nor the learning 
of Lambert has been sufficient to discriminate the differ- 
ent kinds, in as far as practical utility is concerned. 
Linnaeus, in the later editions of liis great work, classes 
the whole under one general head, (Fimis,) and enume- 
rates only twelve species. Miller gives fourteen, Martyn 
twenty-one, and Lambert no fewer than three-and- 
thirty, including varieties. But, unless it be for tlie 
particular vahie of some kinds not indigenous, one-third 
part of this number may suffice for the 'purposes of the 
planter in this climate.'" 

The Scotch Fir, or, as it should more properly be 
called, the Scotch Pine, is the only Terebinthine tree that 
is a native of Britain ; yet three other species are as well 
known, and have so long been naturalised — namely, the 
Spruce Fir (P. abies,) the Silver Fir (P. pinea,) and the 
Larch (P. larix,) — that all the fom^ are usually considered 
as separate trees. The obvious differences between their 
leaves and their fruit sufficiently entitle them to that dis- 
tinction. But our present business is with the Scotch Fir 
only. 

The Scotch Fir (P. silvestris) especially belongs to 
our northern districts. It is a tree that grows to great 
magnitude, and will live for at least four hundred years. 
More than three hundred and sixty rings or circles have 
been counted in a Swedish Fir, all of sound wood. 



Note XIII. 



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351 



When Caesar, who is extremely accurate as to facts, said 
that there were no Fir trees in Britain, it is plain that 
he meant the Spruce, from the word [Abies) made use of 
bv him on that occasion, as has been noticed aboye/'^ 
That the Scotch Fir abounded here prior to the Roman 
conquest we have the most indubitable proof, in the fact 
of the tree being found of gTcat size tinder the extensive 
roads throughout the island, which were constructed by 
that extraordinary people. This tree is hkewise common 
to almost every country of Eui^ope, and even to several 
parts of the torrid zone.f 

The Scotch Fir being, of all the Pine family, the 
most valuable for timber, is on that account the most 
worthy of being cultivated. It has the three following 
varieties, which it is peculiarly important to chstinguish. 

First ; the common Fir, usually planted in Britain, 
and well known by the branches forming a pyramidical 
head. This affords altogetlier an inferior sort of timber. 

Secondly ; the spreading or horizontal Fir ; so called 
from the circumstance of the branches coming out much 
more horizontally from the stem, then bending down- 
wards and forming a spreading top. This kind appears 
to be that hardy and free gTOwing tree, of which the 
extensive forests that once covered the country were 
composed, and are still to be seen in the Highlands of 
Scotland. The wood of this tree is of the most valuable 
description. 

Thirdly ; the pyramidical Fir, with light coloiu'ed 
serrulated leaves, by which it is chiefly to be distinguished 
from the sort first mentioned. The wood of this kind is 
likewise very excellent. — There is also a fom^th variety, 
but it appears to be of little value.| 



^ See Kote X. Sect. IV. antea. f Note XIV. t Note XV. 



352 



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The discovery of these several varieties, if not distinct 
species, we owe to the diligence of Mr George Don, 
nurseryman at Forfar in the county of Angus. Several 
years previously to the appearance of Mr Don's ingenious 
paper, in the memoirs of the Caledonian Horticultural 
Society, I had observed the spreading or horizontal Fir, 
by the very same characteristics which he has noticed, 
and set it down as a tree of first-rate picturesque 
merit ; but I must acknowledge that the two other 
kinds, besides the common Fir, had escaped my atten- 
tion. Mr Don, therefore, is fairly entitled to the merit 
of the discovery, and also for its application to the 
most useful purposes. 

By his ingenious researches, it appears that the great 
cause of the deterioration so visible in our Fir planta- 
tions, independently altogether of soil and climate, is 
that they consist almost entirely of the two kinds first 
and last mentioned above, with few plants among them 
of the second and third sorts. To this may be added 
another cause, which operates also greatly in producing 
the white, soft, and perishable wood generally in use, 
and that is, the want of a proper age in the tree ; 
but that is a disadvantage which is sure to attend all 
trees planted merely for the purpose of nursing others. 
There is good reason to believe, that were these two 
hardy and aboriginal sorts planted in mountainous dis- 
tricts in the south and north, and permitted to grow to 
a proper age, they would equal the wood of Norway or 
the Baltic ; and, indeed, the comparative trials that 
have been already made of such timber, from the Duke 
of Atholl's estates, and the best Dram or Memel logs, 
have gone a great way to establish the fact. Dr Smith, 
in his essay on the production of timber, asserts, that 
he had seen Fir-wood in the North Highlands which. 



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353 



after it had been for three hundred years in the roof 
of an old castle, was as fresh and full of sap (resin) 
as any newly imported from Memel." This is an 
important subject, and well deserving the attention of 
the great planters, whether of England or Scotland.''^' 

Besides the estimable species above described, there 
are one or two others of the Pine family which planters 
should diligently propagate, viz- — 1st. The maritime or 
sea Pine, (P. maritima,) which has been found so 
admirably fitted to resist the sea-breeze on the bleakest 
coasts of France. 2d. The Pinaster or cluster Pine, 
(F. pinaster,) perhaps the most beautiful of all the 
Pine genus. This has been successfully used in Scot- 
land for the same purpose. 3d. The red Pine of 
Canada, which thrives in high geographical latitudes in 
its native country. 4th. The swamp Pine of Georgia 
(P. ausiralis or palustris,) as recommended by 
Michaux and Dr Yule. 5th. The Weymouth Pine, 
(P. strobus,) another American species, long known 
and esteemed in Britain for its stately form and 
excellent wood, the cultivation of which in America 
was enforced by an act of parliament in the time of 
Queen Anne, and likewise for its power of resisting 
the storm in maritime exposures.f 

There are few trees that possess the same beauty and 
value as the Scotch fir : but instead of being esteemed in 
proportion to its merit, there is, perhaps, none that has 
suffered in the same degree from united prejudice and 
ignorance. From its uncommon hardiness, as well as 
utility, it has been put to the most general and servile 
offices, and then both misrepresented and vilified. " The 
Scotch Fir," says an author of some name among the 
EngHsh writers on planting, " is one of the last trees that 

* Note XVL t Note XVII. 

Z 



354 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



ought to engage the attention of the British planter, and 
should be invariably excluded from every soil and situation 
in which any other timber tree can be made to flourish. 
The north aspect of black and barren heights is the only 
situation in which it ought to be tolerated, and even there 
the Larch is found to outbrave it. On better soils, and 
milder situations, the luood of the Scotch Fir is worth 
little, and its growth is so licentious, as to overrun every 
thing which grows in its immediate neighbourhood. This 
renders it wholly unfit to be associated with other timber 
trees : we, therefore, now discard it entirely from useful 
plantations!'^'' 

Here is a most sweeping and authoritative edict, of 
which the petulance is as remarkable as the want of in- 
formation that is displayed in it. On any other subject, 
it would be difficult to point out as much nonsense and 
as much ignorance in the same number of sentences. 
Even the fads of the case are all the very reverse of what 
are so dogmatically set forth. This altogether is the 
more remarkable in Marshall, as he is not among the 
merely theoretical writers on woods, but was a planter of 
considerable skill, and not insensible to picturesque efi'ect. 
When men of this description adopt, and endeavour to 
propagate, such absurdities, it may easily be imagined 
how prejudice is fostered and errors multiplied among 
others, who are unable to judge for themselves. To the 
honour, however, of two of the most accomplished scholars 
and most pleasing writers of the present day, Messrs 
Gilpin and Price, to whom the respectable name of Pontey 
may be added, they have done much to counteract such 
opinions, and to bring the merit of this noble tree into 
the notice it deserves. Gilpin, like all painters of a nice 
perception of their art, is sometimes fastidious ; but, in 

* Marshall's Rural Ornament, vol. i. p. 145. < 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



355 



liis yindication of the Scotch Fir, his remarks are full of 
good sense and correct taste. 

It maj be said, ^Yith some justice, that the Scotch Fir is 
very rarely seen in perfection in Britain ; and, of late years, 
it appears to have greatly degenerated. For both of these, 
several reasons may be assigned. In the first place, it is 
seldom planted in such a way as to be able to expand 
and display its natural character, which other trees, more 
or less, are allowed to do. Scotch Firs are usually raised 
in such close and compact masses, that their lateral 
branches soon drop off, and they grow to poles ; on which 
the heads are stuck like so many sweeping bushes on 
their handles. Were they disposed as single trees, or in 
judicious groups, their aspect would be very different. No 
doubt all trees, as has been already observed, when 
crowded together, rise in perpendicular stems. But the 
Pine tribe has this peculiar disadvantage attending them, 
that their side branches, when once injured, never recover 
or shoot out again. 

Secondly ; this tree, when allowed free room to spread, 
does not, in what Gilpin call its " stripling state,'' possess 
so much beauty as at an after period. But when fifty or 
sixty years have passed, and it becomes, as the nurserymen 
call it, clump-headed, the stem then takes an easy sweep, 
and the lateral branches grow as beautifully and negli- 
gently as those of deciduous trees of the most picturesque 
character."'^ But Gilpin, when he made this remark, 
which is extremely just, was not aware that there are two 
distinct species of the tree commonly cultivated, and that 
it is to one of these only, the spreading or horizontal sort, 
that the description is applicable. 

In the third place ; the deterioration of the Scotch 
Fir, within the last fifty or sixty years, is established 

* Forest Scenery, vol. i. pp. 88, 91, 



356 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



beyond a doubt. We have the authority of Mr Don for 
belieying, that, of the Fk-trees generally planted, not one 
in ten is of the spreading or most valuable sort ; and yet, 
that almost all the ancient Pine woods of the north 
appear to be of this particular species. Planters have not 
as yet had science and observation enough to discrimi- 
nate between the kinds, nor nurserymen sufficient encour- 
agement to raise them separately. The spiral or pyramidi- 
cal Fir is much more prolific in cones than the horizontal ; 
and, as the seed-gatherers are paid by the quantity and 
not the quality of the seed, it is natural that they should 
prefer the former tree. Thus it happens that the nur- 
series of the kingdom, as in the case of the Oak, have 
been for many years overstocked and deteriorated by a 
plant of which the wood is far less valuable than that of 
the aboriginal kind, while, at the same time, it is both less 
rapid in its growth and less hardy in its character. 

Besides these main causes of the unpopularity of the 
Scotch Fir, some fastidious or ignorant persons have 
objected to its colour. Mason, who, if we may believe 
his own account, knew something of painting as well as 
poetry, and should therefore have judged better, seems to 
have had this prejudice. He says — 

" The Scottish Fir, 
In murky files, lifts its inglorious head, 
And blots the fair horizon."* 

The idea, however it may be poetical, is far from being 
just : for as to colour, we have the authority of the same 
great master of the picturesque just now referred to, for 
believing that little distinction is ever made respecting it 
by the painter, in whose art all beauty arising from that 
source results, not from the colours themselves, but from 

* English Garden, b. i. 229. 



THE PLANTEe's GUIDE. 



357 



tlieir harmonising or contrasting with other colours in 
their neighbourhood. Therefore, as this tree is stationed, 
supported, or contrasted, it forms a pleasing tint, or a murk j 
spot in composition.'"" The truth is, that both the fohage 
and the colour of the Scotch Fir, especially of the spread- 
ing kind, are beautiful. The disposition of its branches is, 
moreover, strikingly irregular and picturesque, not unlike 
that of the stone Pine, or the Pinaster. It also resem- 
bles the former of these fine trees in its bark, which, at a 
proper age, is of a rich reddish brown colour. 

If these remarks be just, which I conceive them to be, 
no man has a right to depreciate the Scotch Fir who 
has seen it only as a nurse to other trees, and not expand- 
ing in the careless forms of nature, and likewise at a 
mature age. At Inverary, at Taymouth, at Dunkeld, it 
may be so seen ; also, conspicuously, in the upper park 
at Hamilton : and Gilpin mentions some noble specimens 
of the tree at Thirkleby in Yorkshire, and Basilsleigh in 
Berkshire. The ramification of the fine Fir trees at 
Hamilton clearly shows that they are of the horizontal 
species. It closely resembles that of the Oak, particularly 
as their great arms are thrown out nearly at right angles 
to the trunk. And the whole style of their tops is so 
spreading and majestic, that, at a distance, they are not 
unfrequently taken for Oaks. 

The Scotch Fir lives on dry and sandy soil ; and, 
where that is deep, it will grow to a great size. On 
rich loams, drained peat moss, and the like, the progress 
of the tree is far more rapid, but the wood is also much 
inferior in point of quality. It is, however, won- 
derful how it accommodates itself to every sort of soil, 
whether clay, loam, gravel, or chalk. As a nurse for 
other trees, it is altogether unequalled ; and in that 

* Forest Scenery, vol. i. pp. 89, 90. 



358 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



important office it will grow in barren and exposed 
situations, where no other tree, not even the Larch, is 
found to succeed. As to the Larch " outbraving " it any 
where, the thing has no existence, except in Marshall's 
own distorted representations. 

There are few trees that have been applied to more 
various or important uses than this. The tallest and 
straightest furnish masts for our navy. The timber is 
far more valuable than that of any other of the Pine 
genus. It is resinous, durable, and applicable to number- 
less domestic purposes, as common deal, which is variously 
red and yellow, but most generally white. The spread- 
ing or horizontal Fir, brought slowly to maturity in the 
Scottish Highlands, on gravelly soils, is believed to be 
equal to the best Pine of Norway or Sweden ; and were 
a profitable return the sole object of planting, there is, 
perhaps, no method of obtaining it so speedy and certain, 
as by successive crops or plantations of Scotch Fir, or of 
Scotch Fir and Larch together ; the ground being always 
replanted, after the trees are felled, and a crop or two of 
grain intermediately taken. 

Exclusively of the value of the wood, it is a curious 
fact, that no fewer than eleven distinct substances, as 
enumerated by Lambert, are obtained by various pro- 
cesses from this tree. These are liquid resin or turpentine, 
extract of the juice, yellow resin, essential oil, common 
resin, black resin or colophony, tar, tar-water, pitch, 
lamp black, and bark bread ; which last, as Linnseus states, 
affords food to the Laplanders during a great part of the 
year. In several parts of the Highlands, the roots are 
dug up, and, being divided into small splinters, serve the 
inhabitants for candles.''^ 



* See Lambert's Monogr. on the Genus Pinus. 



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359 



Considering the beauty as well as the hardiness of this 
noble tree, it is a subject of regret that it is so rarely to 
be seen in the parks of either Scotland or England, 
excepting in crowded masses, or at an early age, as nurses 
to other trees. In summer, its beautiful green, if pro- 
perly disposed and contrasted, would never offend a 
correct taste ; and in winter it would be invaluable, 
during the general absence of other verdure. In this 
view, I grieve to say that it does not transplant easily. 
Miller, who is generally extremely accurate as to facts, 
observes, that neither its roots nor branches bear ampu- 
tation weU, owing to the quantity of turpentine which 
issues from the wounds, and thereby weakens the tree. 
This is unfavourable to the process both of preparing and 
taking up ; accordingly, I have found that the roots, 
which are naturally scraggy, have, on being cut, little 
disposition to tlirow out fresh fibres; and thus a sufficient 
number of mouths is not provided for conveying nourish- 
ment to the tree during the fii'st season after removal, 
which is always the precarious one. 

I have, however, transplanted the Scotch Fir (as a 
park tree) from eighteen to thirty feet high, and thirty 
inches or three feet in girth, after three years' prepara- 
tion, and also without it. The success may be said to 
have been tolerable in such an experiment, as I lost only 
about one-sixth part of the whole number removed. As 
to the best season for executing the work, I have tried it 
variously, in the end of March, in May, and in the middle 
of July ; and I am extremely doubtful which I should 
recommend as the most advisable. As an evergreen, it 
ought to succeed best either late in the spring, or soon 
after midsummer. But, on the other hand, in taking up 
this tree when the sap is in full flow, so much injury is 
found to be done to the fibres, from the extreme tender- 



360 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



ness of their outer coat, as nearly to counterbalance the 
advantages which those two seasons are otherwise calcu- 
lated to confer. In these circumstances, perhaps, the 
most proper times would be one of the two following; 
either in the end of March, before the sap begins to 
ascend, but certainly as near that period as possible ; or 
otherwise, in the end of October, when the leaves of other 
trees begin to be discoloured. 

I should much recommend it to those who have very 
open plantations of the Pinaster, or cluster Pine, to make 
a trial of that beautiful tree for the park. From its 
hardy character in its native country, and its resemblance 
to the spreading Fir, in its ramification and general 
character, I have no doubt but that a skilful attempt to 
remove it would be attended with success. For this 
purpose no previous preparation of the roots would pro- 
bably be necessary, if it were taken from good rooting 
ground. I earnestly regret that I am myself possessed 
of no fit subjects on which to make the experiment. 

I have dwelt longer on the subject of the Scotch Fir 
than to some, perhaps, might seem necessary; but justice, 
as well as good taste, seemed to require the discussion. 
If what has been here said may tend to do away 
unfounded prejudice, or extend important information, I 
shall feel gratified in contributing to recommend to notice 
a tree which is not less beautiful than useful, and which, 
I predict, will, within half a century, become an especial 
favourite with the pubUc. 

THE WILD CHEREY, OR GEEN TREE. 

This beautiful tree, {Prunus cerasus) though properly 
belonging to the orchard, and bearing an excellent fruit, 
may appear in the park or lawn with great effect. In 



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361 



Scotland it is named the Geen, or Guigne tree, an appel- 
lation obviously of French origin.'" 

The Cherry, (of which this is a variety,) though 
originally a native of Asia Minor, (having been brought 
to Rome from Cerasus in Pontus, by LucuUus,) has been 
long naturalised to the climate of Europe ; and, accor- 
dingly, the wild species now ranks among our most 
elegant forest trees, chiefly on account of the splendour of 
its blossom during the spring. Ray, however, truly 
observes, that the wild species is indigenous, and existed 
in Europe long before the time of Lucullus. " Were the 
tree scarce,'^ says Hanbury, "and with much difficulty 
propagated, every man, though possessed of a single tree 
only, would look upon it as a treasure. For, besides the 
charming appearance these trees have, when besnowed, as 
it were, all over with bloom in the spring, can any tree of 
the vegetable tribe be conceived more beautiful, striking, 
and grand, at the period when the fruit is ripe V 

The wild Cherry is not only extremely ornamental as 
a lawn tree, but it is also a hardy and useful plant. It 
will shoot freely in a soil composed of loam mixed with 
gravel, (provided the subsoil be tolerably dry,) though 
not of the richest quality, and rise to fifty or sixty feet in 
height. Its wood is of superior value, being singularly 
fine in the grain, and nearly equal to mahogany for the 
various purposes of cabinet work. The gum that exudes 
from it is nearly equal to gum-arabic. At Whixley, 
near Wetherby in Yorkshire, there are some noble trees 
of this species ; and it is to be regretted, considering their 
hardy character, that they are so rarely to be seen in the 
parks of Scotland. 

There is no tree that transplants better than the ^i\d 

* Note XVIII. 



362 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



Cherry, (if properly prepared in its branches, as well as 
roots,) from Noyember till April ; and there is no tree 
that recovers more easily from the operation. Although 
the roots are less fibrous than those of the Beech, the 
Sycamore, and the Lime, yet, after three years' training 
in the transplanting nursery, it may be removed of a 
great size, and with as much certainty of success as any 
one of those favourite trees, and without the loss of a 
twig or a branch. 

THE LARCH. 

This useful tree (Pinus larix) is classed in the Pine 
family by botanists ; and it forms a sort of connecting 
species between the deciduous class and the evergreens, 
as, like the former, it annually sheds its leaves. It is a 
native of the south of Europe, and of Siberia, and was 
cultivated in England as early as 1629. Miller gives 
three species of the tree. One of them is the far-famed 
Cedar of Libanus, {Gedrus conifera, foliis laricis,) which 
is a very hardy plant, and worthy of more extensive 
cultivation than it has hitherto met with in Britain. The 
two most useful kinds, however, are those usually planted 
— namely, the white or common Larch, {Larix pyrami- 
dalis,) and the black Larch of Canada {Larix pendula.) 
To these we may very properly add the red Larch, {Larix 
temiifolia,) likewise from the same country. 

The Larch is a native of the Alps and the Apennines, 
where it grows to a tree of vast size and value. But as 
it is not easy to say whether it has been most extolled in 
ancient or in mordern times, all laboured encomium is in 
this place superfluous. Livy, Vitruvius, and the elder 



Note XIX. 



THE planter's guide. 



363 



Pliny have all celebrated it. Strabo speaks of Alpine 
trees in bis time, used for ship -building, that measured 
eiglit feet in diameter.'"'" And we know that, in the pre- 
sent day, ship masts of Larch, of a hundred and ten and 
a hundred and twenty feet long, are floated from the 
district of Yalais, through the Lake of Geneva, down the 
Rhone, to Toulon, on the Mediterranean. 

The Larch possesses a surprising facility of accommo- 
dating itself to every variety of soil and situation, unless it 
be wet and obdurate clay, or very rich and deep loam, in 
which there is no calcareous matter. It appears, however, 
to thrive best on soils of second-rate quality, and especially 
in such as are thin, gravelly, and calcareous. More hardy 
than any other tree — the Scotch Pine, perhaps, excepted — ■ 
it is a quicker grower than any other, whether as the 
staple of the plantation, or as a nurse to other plants. 

Without overpraising this extraordinary tree, it may 
be said that, in point of utility, it is the greatest acquisi- 
tion of which this country has to boast since planting was 
introduced into it. The purposes to which the Larch 
may be applied, and to almost all with success, are so 
multifarious and important, that, if detailed, they would 
seem incredible were not the facts attested by experience — 
to house-building, to ship-building, to cabinet-making, to 
husbandry, &c. It possesses the power of bearing the 
extremes of not only moisture and dryness, but the 
alternations of both, better than any other tree. It is, 
therefore, unequalled in the construction of mill-dams, 
machinery, sluices, canals, piles, gate-posts, and the like. 
It has the singular property of inflaming with difficulty, 
as was long since observed by PHny and Yitruvius ;f and 
of being quite unassailable by* the worm. The tree, like- 



* Georg. lib. iv. p. 202, Edit. Causab. 



t Note XX. 



364 



THE PLANTEK S GUIDE. 



wise, is said never to shrink or warp when made up into 
work ; an opinion which receives sufficient countenance 
from the fact, that more than three centuries since, before 
canvass was in use, it was upon boards of Larch-wood 
that Raphael and other great artists of that day painted 
some of their most celebrated pictures. But the boards 
must have been cut from trees of mature age, and of a 
very different texture from those of this country ; for 
experience has shown, that British Larch of thirty and 
even fifty years old, is by no means distinguished for this 
valuable quality.'"' 

The wood, likewise, in Switzerland, is turned to another 
useful purpose by the peasants in the neighbourhood of 
the Alps. They cut it into shingles of about a foot long, 
and half an inch thick, and use them as a covering for 
their houses ; which within a short time, by the oozing 
out of the resin, becomes impenetrable to rain. The bark 
of the tree, also, possesses the tanning principle in a re- 
markable degree, more so, as it is believed, than any other 
except the Oak ; and it has of late years been extensively 
applied to that object. It is from the Larch and the 
silver Fir that Venice turpentine is extracted ; a sub- 
stance, however, which derives nothing but the name from 
the Venetian territories. 

" The Larch (as Gilpin truly observes) which we have 
in England, compared with the Larch of the Alps, is a 
diminutive plant, and little more than the puny inhabitant 
of a garden. ^^t It is in his estimation too formal in its 
growth ; it is neither grand nor noble in its character, 
and has no picturesque beauty in this country ; an opinion 
in which I entirely agree with him. He admits that it 
may be called an " elegant tree," which is saying as much 



* Note XXI. 



t Forest Scenery^ vol. i. p. 75. 



THE PLx\NTEli's GUIDE. 



365 



as can be said for it, in its early youth, before it acquire 
that scragginess and formality which so strikingly mark 
it at a more advanced period. In fact, I haye great dif- 
ficulty in persuading myself that the three noble and 
most picturesque trees which are seen growing at Dunkeld, 
near the house, raised from real Alpine seed, can ever 
belong to the same species. Instead of the formal appear- 
ance of the ordinary Larch, those majestic Pines assume 
the easy sweep of stem, and the spreading ramification of 
the Pinaster and horizontal Fir, in their grandest and 
most pleasing forms; wliile there is, besides, a sweeping and 
negligent pendency in the spray, which neither of those 
trees exhibits. As there are, therefore, the strongest 
reasons for believing that the Larch has degenerated in 
Britain, in both its wood and external appearance, I 
should advise that we have frequent recourse to the Alps 
for our seed.'" 

In respect to the appearance of the tree, I take the 
liberty to assert, how adverse soever it may be to the opinion 
of many, that although the value of the Larch is high and 
unquestionable to the British planter, yet, as we see it 
here, it has no claim to be held as an ornament to our 
parks and pleasure-grounds, except for its early leaf, 
and its forming a good opposition tint in autumn. What- 
ever comes out a full fortnight, and sometimes three weeks, 
sooner than the generality of trees, must, however, have 
considerable value in this climate ; and on that account 
the Larch and the Thorn, sprinkled here and there in the 
vicinity of the mansion, and indeed over the park in 
general, are calculated during the spring to produce a 
very cheerful efi'ect. In these sentiments, I fear, I shall 
be considered as barbarous and gothic, in no small degree, 



* Note XXII. 



366 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



b J those who constantly rave about the uncommon beauty 
of the Larch, and be held as grievously sinning against 
correct taste. Should it be so, 1 shall console myself by 
reflecting, that if on this subject I do err, I err at least 
in good company, having Gilpin and the painters to keep 
me in countenance.""'^ 

It is with the view only of procuring early leaf that I 
have sometimes transplanted the Larch, from eighteen to 
thirty feet high, and about three in circumference, eighteen 
inches from the ground ; I mean, of course, the white or 
common Larch (Larix pyramidalis.)\ But its roots, like 
those of its hardy relative the Scotch Pine, are not dis- 
posed to become fibrous. Neither is it, like that tree, at 
all patient of removal ; or perhaps I may have been more 
negligent in preparing it than subjects of greater conse- 
quence. I cannot therefore say, that my success has been 
very extraordinary, although I mean to subject it to 
further experiment. To those who happen to have pro- 
per subjects of the black Larch, (Z. pendula) I should 
recommend it for removal in preference to the white, as it 
is a much hardier tree, and incomparably a more rapid 
grower ; and it has been extensively raised in Britain 
within the last threescore years. 

THE BIECH. 

Although there is no tree of greater lightness and 
elegance than our native Birch, {Betula alba,) it is rather 
more fitted for woods and shrubberies than for the open 
park. There is a striking variety, with pendulous branches, 
named the weeping Birch. Besides these, three American 
species have been added to our catalogue, which promise 



* Note XXIII. 



t Note XXIV. 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



367 



to be hardy as well as stately acquisitions. 1. The 
mahogany Birch, {Betula lenta,) or cherry Birch of 
Canada. 2. The yellow Birch {Betula lutea) of Nova 
Scotia. 3. The black Birch, {Betula nigra,) which has 
of late been pretty common in the British plantations.''^ 

The Birch in this climate seldom attains a great size, 
and its wood, though not held as of much value, is yet 
turned to a greater variety of purposes than that of most 
other trees. In the neighbourhood of large towns, it 
makes chiefly hoops and brooms ; in the country it is 
applied to harrows, ox-yokes, and other rural implements ; 
also it is much used in tm^nery and wheel- work, and in 
collieries for difi'erent purposes underground. 

In Lapland, it is of singular use in the economy of the 
natives. The branches supply them with their beds and 
chief fuel ; and the seeds are the food of the ptarmigan, 
which constitutes a considerable part of their sustenance. 
The Moxa also is prepared from it, which they consider 
as an efficacious remedy in all painful diseases. 

As the Birch abounds in the Highlands of Scotland, it 
may be called the universal and indispensable wood for 
the natives of those districts. I speak from my own 
personal knowledge, in saying that they use this tree and 
the Hazel {Gorylus avellana) for almost every purpose, 
domestic or agricultural. They cover their houses, they 
make their ploughs, harrows, sledges, paniers, pack-saddles, 
fences, gates, herring-barrels, and even their tables, chairs, 
and bowls, trenchers, and spoons of them. They make 
also ropes of Birch-bark, which are extremely useful. The 
wood of this tree, moreover, constitutes excellent fuel and 
very good charcoal. 

The bark of the Birch contains a strong tanning pro- 

* Note XXV. 



368 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



pert J, and it is often mixed with that of the Oak for this 
purpose, in the proportion of one-fourth part, which is 
seldom objected to bj the dealers in the latter. In 
ancient times, previously to the invention of paper, the 
inner white cuticle of the bark, was used for writing-tablets. 
And the agreeable wine which is prepared from the tree, 
and is said to be a good medicine for the stone and 
gravel, was in high esteem before distillation from grain 
shed its baleful poison over the whole of the north of 
Europe. In Russia at present, (as M. Pallas in his 
Travels informs us,) the antiseptic oil to which the well- 
known leather of that countiy owes its fragrant smell, is 
extracted from the bark of this tree ; and the peasants of 
the same country, finding it nearly imperishable, shape it 
into a sort of tiles for covering their houses. In America, 
also, we find that the Indians construct canoes of it, which 
are very light and of long duration. 

The Birch is one of the most hardy trees existing in 
Europe, and grows over almost all tlie northern parts of 
that Continent. From some late researches made in 
Sweden respecting the indigenous woods of the country, 
it was found growing nearer to the Pole than any other 
tree, and beyond the 70 th degree of latitude ; while the 
Pine reached only the 69th, and the Fir the 68th degrees. 
In Scotland it is found in higher elevations than any 
other native tree, the mountain Ash {Sorbus aucuparia) 
only excepted. 

The great merit of this singular tree is, that it will grow 
on a7iy sort of soil ; on the poorest clay, on the most 
barren gravel or sand, in wet bog, and even on peat-moss, 
before the sun and air have fully decompounded it 
for most purposes. As a nurse to other trees, it is ex- 
tolled by many planters of skill, and is frequently used 
for that office in England. To these rare qualities 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



369 



when we add those of its singularly beautiful and pendent 
form, its variegated and picturesque bark, its early leaf, 
and the delicacy of its fragrant foliage, we may justly 
account it a plant very deserving of cultivation. 

As a lawn-tree, I think, the Birch seldom figures 
advantageously, from its want of a due spread of top. It 
is said, by some naturalists, to be but short-lived ; that it 
reaches its full maturity in about seventy years, and never 
attains any great size in our climate. This opinion of its 
want of longevity seems to be a popular error, founded 
most probably on the fact of its never being allowed to 
live very long, owing to the multifarious uses for which it 
is always in request. I had at this place, twenty years 
since, some fine old Birches, probably of three times the 
age just now stated, between sixty and seventy feet high, 
and more than nine feet in girth — which, I imagine, is as 
large as the celebrated ones in Darnaway Forest in Moray- 
shire, and nearly the largest size which the tree reaches in 
Scotland. These fine Birches unfortunately stood in 
woods (I sincerely wish it had been on the lawn ;) but 
they are all now decayed, except one, which is still in 
tolerable health, and is believed to be at least two centu- 
ries old. It measures more than ten feet in circumference 
at three feet from the ground ; and what is most remark- 
able, is, that in its general ramification it closely resembles 
the spreading Oak, as well as in the shortness of its stem, 
and also in throwing out its horizontal arms to the dis- 
tance of more than twenty feet on every side.'"* As 
the soil of some parts of the park seems particularly to 
suit the Birch, I was desirous, about fifteen years ago, 
that this singular tree, being in the last stage of its exist- 
ence, should have a worthy successor, if such could be 
found for it. Accordingly I trained and prepared for 
some years one of the nearest to it in form and character, 

* This tree was blown down in 1841. — Ed. 

2 A 



370 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



that I could find in the transplanting nm^series, both in 
respect to its branches and its roots, and then remoyed 
the young tree to the open lawn. The ground on which 
it stands is rather light and of inferior quality ; but it is 
noAY in great vigoui^, about eight-and-twenty feet high, 
and two feet eight inches in girth eighteen inches from 
the ground, and shooting from fifteen to eighteen inches 
yearly. In fact it exhibits one of the most perfect pic- 
tures possible of what Gilpin calls " stripling beauty in 
trees — the light and airy spray of the Birch united with 
the picturesque ramification of the Oak and the Chestnut. 
I think Mr Pontey would consider it as no bad specimen 
of pruning and training for picturesque efifect.*'^ 

The Birch may be remoyed of yery considerable size, 
and with great success, proyided that due care be taken 
to protect its tender and fibrous roots from the efiects of 
drought dming the first summer after remoyal. Like the 
Beech it is yery sensitiye in this particular, and for that 
reason it should be transplanted, like the Beech, soon after 
autumn, or at least as early in the winter as possible. 
Three years' preparation is the least that will giye you 
fibres in sufl&cient number. 

Where a particular object is to be seen through trees, 
or under their branches, sometimes concealing and some- 
times reyealing it among their playful foliage, I know no 
tree that excels the Birch. Perhaps it equals the light 
and airy form of the spreading Beech itself, for that 
picturesque purpose. In the park, howeyer, I haye used 
it sparingly, but as copse in great profusion ; and from its 
hardy character, early leaf, and peculiar fragrance after 
rain, it may be considered as almost inyaluable for under- 
wood. 

* See a delineation of it, plate II. ; also Note XXVI. — The size of this 
Birch was six feet one inch in circumference two feet from the ground, and 
forty-five feet high. — Ed. 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



SECTION I. 



Note I, Page 4. 

Whoever is acquainted with the pursuits and information of the 
generality of landowners and country gentlemen, will be disposed to 
give full credit to the assertion here made in the text, and also to the 
following anecdote, which I shall mention for the amusement of the 
reader. 

In the county of ^, in which as large sums have been laid out in 

planting as in most others within the last half century, a gentleman, 
who is curious and intelligent about woods, and entertains the same 
opinion of the generality of our planters as I do, was, some few years 
since, remarking in a public company the almost universal want of 
science, or even of ordinary knowledge, that prevails on a topic so 
generally interesting. Not finding many persons agree with him in this 
sentiment, he offered a bet of five to one, that no gentleman present 
should, within three months, name three persons, landholders in the 
county, who had executed large plantations, and were possessed of from 
^500 to £5000 a-year and upwards, that were able " to state with 
precision the different sorts of soils to which twelve of the principal 
forest trees planted in Britain were best adapted." 

The bet was on all hands allowed to be a very " sporting" one, and 
was immediately taken up. The taker of it next day set to work with 
his search. Being no planter himself, though a good agriculturist, he 
had no acquaintance with the subject in question : but he naturally 
enough imagined, that the species of knowledge, which was useless to 
him, must yet be valuable to others ; and that therefore a planter could 



372 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



no more be ignorant of the soils best suited to Ms trees, than a farmer 
could be of those adapted to Ms wheat or his harley crops. But at the 
end of the three months, he was reluctantly forced to acknowledge, that 
In the existing circumstances, the analogy was not a correct one ; and 
three persons not being to be found of adequate information, he paid his 
money accordingly. During the course of the investigation, more than 
twenty planters aspired to the honours of the competition, all confident 
that they could easily gain him his bet. But when it came to the trial, 

the result was that one person only, in the county of , was able to 

fulfil the prescribed conditions ! 

It has been remarked above, that so little are country gentlemen, or 
their gardeners, acquainted with either the planting or the management 
of woods, that it is truly " the blind leading the blind" in this important 
department of rural economy ; and I cannot refrain from adding another 
anecdote, on the subject of soils, of which the facts came within my 
own knowledge, 

A few months since, I was applied to by a friend to give him some 
advice respecting his trees. Wood, he said, grew so badly about his 
place, that, after the experience of forty years, he was almost discouraged 
from the cultivation of it. On visiting the spot, I perceived that his 
representation was but too well founded. As he felt a great partiality 
to Limes and Sycamores, he had transplanted those two sorts of trees 
all over his park, of eight and ten feet high, many years before ; and 
that the work was executed in the best manner, he said, it was impossible 
to doubt, as it was done under the direction of his own gardener, who 
had extensive experience and knowledge of wood. But the gardener and 
himself both assured me, that the soil and climate were " altogether 
unfavourable to wood," however either might suit husbandry or green 
crops. In proof of which they turned my attention to the trees, which 
indeed appeared stunted and unhealthy, with leaves of a yellowish- 
green colour, and growing about an inch or little more in a season. 

On examining the soil, the cause of my friend's want of success was 
at once apparent. It consisted of a rich but thin clay, naturally inclin- 
ing to damp in the substratum, from the retention of moisture. My 
advice to him was very short ; " Grub up your Limes and Sycamores, 
which you should never have planted ; and which, unless by a miracle, 
could never grow to timber in such a soil. Replace them with Oak and 
Beech, of at least five-and-twenty feet high, and of two and three feet 
in girth, in order that they may be able to withstand the elements, and 
within a few years you will have thriving wood. But let Oak be the 
staple, whether of your plantations or your park- wood, with such a. soil.'* 

To get advice is one thing, to follow it is another. I know not 



SECTION I. 



373 



whether the gardener's opinion or mine prevailed with the good-natured 
owner ; but the probability is that the place will remain in statu quo, 
and the badness of both soil and climate be deplored or reprobated for 
another generation. 

Note II. Page 5. 

So general is the feeling among the best-infoi-med classes respecting 
the want of intelligence on the important subject of Wood, that I believe 
a proposal for the establishment of an Arboricultural Society in 
Scotland, if properly made, would be as ardently gone into as it would 
be universally approved. It is astonishing to think that, up to the 
present time, no such society should any where exist in the United 
Kingdoms. The importance and the uses of wood are so great and 
manifold, and its improvement of such paramount interest to the empire 
in general, and to individual districts in particular, that there are really 
few objects which are calculated to unite so many sufifrages in their 
favour. 

In respect to the beneficial results which the labours of such a society 
would produce, they are generally but very imperfectly hinted at in the 
text. Perhaps one of the most remarkable is the change that would 
take place in the character, education, and acquirements of our nursery- 
men, by far the most influential agents in the melioration of our future 
woods ; because it is upon them that we must depend for the nature of 
the materials. Should such a society be soon established, I should yet 
hope to see nurserymen come forth as they ought to do — able botanists, 
intelligent agriculturists and gardeners, vegetable physiologists of res- 
pectable information, and, in a word, men of general science. 

Probably the truth is, that reformation, if it be begun in earnest, 
must begin elsewhere. Were the class of persons first mentioned in this 
enumeration in the text (namely, " well-informed landholders") by 
any means to rise up, the two others would follow as a necessary con- 
sequence. Let us hear one of the most candid and intelligent nursery- 
men in Scotland on the subject. On my observing to him lately, how 
much it was to be regretted that there was " no science " to be found 
among men of his profession, he replied nearly as follows : — 

" Of what use or value, sir," said he, "would science be to us, while 
nothing of the kind is possessed by our employers ? As nurserymen, 
seedsmen, or florists, we are mere dealers in the articles we sell, in the 
same way as the shopkeeper is in sugar, snuffs, or haberdashery goods ; 
only with this difference respecting us, that we raise or produce the 
article we sell, whereas the other has to buy or to sell it, after it has 



374 



l^^'OTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



been raised by others. Give gentlemen, who are the most partial to 
planting, but cheap plants, and they neither know nor care about the 
quality ! 

" No nurseryman, believe me, sir, (at least in this kingdom,) ever raised 
his reputation or extended his business by the superior quality of his 
trees, because that must have implied a superior price. Boutcher, the 
honestest and most judicious one we ever had, (a man more remarkable 
for the spirit of fair dealing than for any knowledge of the world,) 
made an attempt, about threescore years since, to improve Scottish arbo- 
riculture, and to convince the public of their injudicious anxiety for 
low-priced articles in our line. Had his merit been rewarded with that 
encouragement which it so eminently deserved, arboriculture would 
indeed have been improved under such an instructor. His excellent 
example would long ere now have rendered both science and information 
indispensable to our profession. But what happened ? Boutcher was 
undervalued by the ignorance of his age. He was suffered to languish 
unsupported for years at Comely Garden, and died at last in obscurity 
and indigence. It would avail little in the present day to dwell on the 
ignorance and quackery of the men who supplanted him in the public 
favour. The work on ' the raising of forest-trees,' which he published 
by subscription, to relieve his wants, is a sufficient proof of his pro- 
fessional skill ; and the detail of his practice is the severest satire on that 
of his successors. I conscientiously believe, that the millions of young 
trees at present raised near Edinburgh, if raised after Boutcher's 
method, would cover a greater surface than is now covered by the 
entire metropolis of the North ! 

" Since the time of the Millers and the Boutchers, the little science 
that was then dawning on our profession, whether in Scotland or else- 
where, has utterly disappeared from it. Planting and gardening, how- 
ever, since that period, have come much into fashion in this country. 
The seed and nursery business has suprisingly increased. Instead of 
being confined, as formerly, to a scale the most limited and insignificant, 
it has become one of the most important professions in the metropolis 
and elsewhere, and fortunes, by consequence, have been rapidly accumu- 
lated by it. 

" In these circumstances, sir, I conceive that we have been greatly 
enlightened, respecting the mysteries of the trade, by our brethren of 
the South. To furnish gardeners to the nobility and gentry, is now 
found to be the road to wealth ; to sell cheap or dear, the only criterion 
of merit in the nurseryman. His study, therefore, never is, nor can be, 
science, or the quality of his plants, but solely and exclusively the art 
of raising the greatest possible number on the smallest space of ground, 



SECTION I. 



375 



and furnishing them to his customers at the loioest possible price. You 
may tliink that in this stricture I bear rather liard on our profession ; 
but since you do me the honour to question me, I must tell you the 
truth." 

All this, we must own, is extremely deplorable. It places in a strong 
point of view the benefits that would flow from a society for the im- 
provement of arboriculture, were it judiciously constituted, and the 
necessity there is for at length cultivating the art independently and as 
a separate department. There is now suflicient wealth, and, what is of 
more importance, sufficient intelligence in the country to accomplish the 
object, and for once to enable us to lead the way in this instance in the 
advancement of the arts. 

Note III. Page 6. 

It was not till after the civil wars, that the arts of planting and 
gardening were greatly cultivated in England. The immortal Bacon, 
in the preceding age, was certainly the first who seemed to apprehend 
the true principles of beauty in the garden, and 

" Taught a degenerate reign 
"WTiat in Eliza's golden day was Taste." * 

See his 46th Essay, in which he directs that a considerable portion of 
what he terms his " Princely Garden" should be " framed as much as 
may be to a natural wilderness." 

The genius of Milton, likewise, at a later period, figured for his Eden 
a garden which could have no prototype but in his own taste and 
ardent imagination, but which might rather seem to have belonged to 
the richest garden and park scenery of an after age. The passage is 
curious, and to some it has appeared not less prophetic than beautiful ; 
as the only models that were before our great poet's eyes, were the 
formal and rectilinear gardens which we derived from antiquity, and 
which still exist in most parts of Europe : — 

Not that sweet grove 
Of Daphne by Orontes, and th' inspii-ed 
Castalian spring, might with this Paradise 

Of Eden strive The crisped brooks. 

Rolling on orient pearl, and sands of gold, 
With mazy error, under pendant shades, 
Ran nectar, visiting each plant, and fed 



* Mason's English Garden, B. i. 



876 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS, 



Flowers worthy Paradise ; whicli not nice art. 
In beds and curious knots, but nature boon 
Pour'd fortli profuse on hill, and dale, and plain, 
Both where the momitig sun first warmly smote 
The open field, and where the unpierced shade 
Embrown'd the noontide bowers. Thus was this place 
A happy rural seat of various view." 

Paradise Lost, B. iv. 

Kent, to whom we certainly owe the art of modern gardening, lived 
in the beginning of the last century. He was by profession a painter, 
and had the taste and ingenuity to superinduce the principles of the 
new art on his previous studies* No one, probably, but a painter would 
have thought of making use of the colours of nature to improve and 
heighten the effect of real scenery. The great principles on which he 
worked (as Walpole truly observes) were perspective, and light and 
shade ; and thus his imagination bestowed the arts of landscape on the 
scenes which he undertook to improve. Bridgeman, the fashionable 
designer of the day, had a short time before invented the sunk fence, 
which was a material step to the connecting of the garden and the park ; 
but " Kent (says the same lively writer) leaped the fence, and saw that 
all nature was a garden." — See " Anecdotes of Painting in England." 

Kent returned from Rome, where he had gone to perfect himself in 
his profession, under the patronage of Lord Burlington, about the year 
1721. The first places which he laid out in the new style, were Clare- 
mont and Esher. This happened in 1728 or 17S0 ; so that, as "Paradise 
Lost" first came out in 1667, it may be said that more than a hundred 
and thirty years intervened between the time of Bacon and that of Kent, 
and more than threescore between that of Milton and the last-mentioned 
period. 

Note IV. Page 6. 

" The Landscape," a poem by the late ingenious Mr Knight, and the 
" Essays on the Picturesque," by that accomplished scholar Sir Uvedale 
Price, are productions of high merit, which we must ever value as 
having been the means of retrieving the public taste, and showing what 
is unnatural, formal, or monotonous in the character of the school of 
Brown and Repton. Yet, as these meritorious works were composed 
■under peculiar circumstances, and during the bitterness of controversy, 
they should be perused with some allowance on that account. Mr 
Loudon's able treatise also on the " Improvement of Country Residences" 
(which came out in 1806, and has not been half so much commended as 
it deserves) forms an admirable guide to the man of taste, or the 



SECTION I. 



377 



country gentleman, who, having no practical skill himself, is yet desirous 
to improve real landscape, M^here it already exists, or to create it where 
it is wanting. 

As a proof that the professors of landscape gardening do not obstin- 
ately cling to antiquated errors, Mr Ponte}'', (who has usefully written 
on the planting and pruning of trees,) a disciple and admirer of Brown, 
published in 1825 a meritorious work on " the Laying-out of Grounds," 
though with an odd title, namely, " The Rural Improver." The book, 
though not well written, contains excellent matter ; it shows much 
practical skill, and should have a place in the library of every country 
gentleman. It is certain that considerable knowledge of the principles 
of landscape, however obtained, and some skill in the practice of creating 
it, are indispensable to every one who would transplant with advantage. 
This is a subject well deserving of discussion ; but it would require far 
more than could be comprised within the short compass of a note. 

Note V. Page 8. 

With respect to the immediate effect of wood in town embellishments, 
it would prove particularly valuable for the squares, and other open 
grounds of a great city. Edinburgh, one of the most extraordinary 
places in Europe, whether for its picturesque situation or the sudden 
erection of its finest streets and squares, lately lost an opportunity of 
obtaining wood in this way, which is not likely soon to occur again. 
The Royal Circus, Moray Place, Heriot Row, and other places and 
squares, having spacious open grounds attached to them, were built in 
the immediate vicinity of what was once the delightful villa and grounds 
of the Earl of Moray, on the water of Leith ; and indeed, nearly the 
whole of them have grown out of the destruction of that elegant little 
park. Its woods had been admirably kept, and, what is more, judicious- 
ly thinned out by the taste of the late and the present Lord Moray, and 
would have afforded subjects in sufficient number, of nearly five-and- 
forty years' growth, and also in the very best rooting-ground, to wood 
the one -half of the metropolis. It is to be lamented that there was no 
science at hand to have achieved this striking improvement, as it would 
have done more to establish the power of the art in the public opinion, 
than twenty volumes like the present ; and, moreover, it would have 
anticipated at leSiBi thirty i/ears in the picturesque appearance of the city. 

I do not mean of course to say, that this should have been all done 
with fine large grove-wood or standard trees. No man of good taste, I 
think, will so understand it. But the miserable single trees and detached 
groups that now appear upon the open parts of the grounds in question, 



378 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



should have been of that large description which would have given 
effect and consequence to their narrow but undulating surface ; while 
shrubs and underwood, abundantly intermixed, would have conferred 
on them richness and intricacy. There were a great number of the 
last-mentioned subjects (I mean shrubs and stools of underwood) at 
this villa, from five to eight feet high, that would have richly clothed 
the entire open grounds of the new part of the city. 

In the same way it would be quite practicable, if wished for, although 
the exposure is considerably greater, to wood the site of what will here- 
after become our Acropolis, as soon as the projected Parthenon rises on 
the Calton Hill. But where are the subjects now to be found ? During 
the provostship or mayoralty of the late excellent Mr Henderson in 
"1824, I had agreed to give a specimen of what might be done, by 
planting a very large Sycamore, with a spreading top, on the very 
highest part of the Hill, near Nelson's Monument. The tree was 
selected in Lord Moray's grounds for the purpose; but the sudden 
death of this worthy chief magistrate put an end to the undertaking. 

Note VI. Page 11. 

Highly gratifying as the Report of the Committee of the Highland 
Society must be to me, as attesting the success of my improvements in 
the art, and that on authority too high to be called in question ; yet I 
own I was not less gratified by the flattering mention of them in one 
of the productions of the Author of Waverley — works which will in 
all probability live as long as the language endures in which they are 
written. I regret that 1 am prevented by circumstances from quoting 
the passage. 

Soon after this Report was made, the Society advertised a premium 
of ten guineas, or a piece of plate of equal value, for the best Essay on 
the removal of large trees and underwood. As I had then collected 
materials for the present Treatise, which were of a more extensive sort 
than would have suited the Society's regulations, I declined entering 
into competition for this premium. It was gained by the overseer of a 
gentleman in Perthshire, a very meritorious person, who gave merely 
an account of his own practice for some years back. But as he was 
probably not conversant with science, and had no idea that the art was 
susceptible of fixed principles, I did not conceive that it precluded, or 
in any degree anticipated the present publication. 



SECTION II. 



Note I. Page 16. 

" Fuit et arborum cura legibus priscis ; cautumque est XII. Tabulis, 
ut qui injuria cecidisset alienas, lueret in singulas aeris XXV." — Pliny, 
Hist. Nat. lib. xvii. 1. 

Note II. Page 17. 

'■'■Vepdv'^pvov fX€Ta(l)VTev€iv ; Veterem Arborem transferre vel trans- 
plantare." — Eras. Adag. p. 419. 

Note III. Page 17. 

It is remarkable that there is not to be found, in all Homer, any thing 
like picturesque description, although Pope in his translation has abun- 
dantly supplied the want. On Virgil and the other Roman poets, nearly 
a similar remark may be made : and this defect in ancient poetry (as 
Twining has well observed, in his Dissertations on the Poetics of Aris- 
totle,) naturally proceeds from a similar defect in the sister art of 
painting. 

In Pliny's account of the Greek artists, we find no mention made of 
a landscape painter among them, nor any thing like a landscape itself, 
in his list of their most celebrated productions. He informs us, how- 
ever, that a Roman painter named Ludius, who lived in the reign of 
Augustus, first struck out the art of painting landscape, which he exe- 
cuted in fresco, in so very pleasing a manner, and at so very moderate 
an expense, that every body employed him. His subjects, he says, were 
villas, porticos, gardens, groves, hills, rivers, seaport towns, and the 
like, and that they were enlivened with human figures in abundance, 
engaged in all sorts of occupations ; the whole forming a most pleasing 
representation (blandissimo aspectu.) Hist. Nat. lib. xxxv. 10. 

Twining likewise accurately observes, that landscape painting in 
Pliny's time, though known, was not an established branch of painting, 
as it had not even acquired a name ; for Pliny, who on other occasions 



380 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



is not sparing in his use of technical terms, is obliged to call it by a 
periphrasis, "an agreeable sort of painting or subject," {amcenissima 
pictura.) P. 35. 

Note IV. Page 18. 

" In arbustum Ulmos quinquennes sub Urbe transferunt, aut, ut 
quibusdam placet, quae vicenum pedum esse coeperunt. Sulco, qui 
Novenarius dicitur, altitudine pedum trium, pari latitudine, et eo 
ampliiis, circa positas, pedes terni undique e solido adaggerantur. 
Arulas id vocant in Campania. . . . Opulis eadem ratio semino, qua 
Ulmos serendi ; transferendi quoque e seminariis, eadem et silvis." — 
Hist. Nat. lib. xvii. 11. See also Columella., lib. v. 5, 6. — Cato, &c. 

Note V. Page 19. 

"Haec si tibi nimium tristia videbuntur, villae imputabis ; in qu§i 
didici ab .^gialo, diligentissimo patrefamiliae (is enim nunc hujus agri 
possessor est,) quamvis vetus arhustwn posse transferri. Hoc nobis 
senibus discere necessarium est, quorum nemo non olivetum alteriponit. 
Quod vidi, hoc dico ; illud arboretum trinum aut quadrimum fastidi- 
enti fructus autumno deponere. Te quoque proteget ilia, quae 

* Tarda venit, seris factura nepotibus umbram.' " 

Sen. Epist. Ixxxvl. p. 558. Edit. Lipsii. 

Note VI. Page 19. 

This skilful husbandman, says the poet, well knew how to order his 
slow -growing elms in even rows ; to transplant the hardy Pear tree, 
and the grafted Thornstock, already yielding fruit ; together with the 
Platanus, of such a size that the votaries of Bacchus might enjoy its 
shade : — 

" lUe etiam seras in versum distulit Ulmos, 
Eduramque Pirum, et Spines jam pruna ferentes, 
J amque ministrantem Platanum potantibus umbras," 

ViRG. Georg. lib. iv. 144. 

This version of the passage, T conceive, we are warranted in believing to 
be correct, although the word distulit is used, and not transtuUt (from 
the peculiar epithets which Virgil has bestowed upon the trees,) dis- 
tinctly showing them not to have been diminutive plants, but trees 
transferred to the spot when of some magnitude. 



SECTION IL 



381 



Note VII. Page 20. 

" '2(f)68pa ^adiis TTOtrjcravTes, kol TrepiKut'^avTes rrjv Koixrjv, Koi dcrivus 

Tovs naxvTepovs r)Xcovas kol aKepaiovs ras ptCf^s biaTr)pr)(ravT€s, fxera ttoXXtJs Trjs 
ot/cei'as, yrjs kol Koirpov opSa ^aXkovcrt to. Tvpepva, (pvkarTopevoi, lv ottov ih/ 
/cXij/7/, p.elvT].'" — Anatol. in Geopon. Vet, lib. x. 85. 

Note VIII. Page 21. 

"Ad Olivetum reverter, quod vidi duobus modis depositum. Magna- 
rum arborum truncos, circumcisis ramis, et ad unum redactis pedem, 
cum scapo suo transtulit ; amputatis radicibus, relicto tantum capite 
ipso, ex quo illse pependerant : Hoc, fimo tinctum, in scrobem demisit : 
Deinde terram non aggessit tantum, sed calcavit et pressit. Negat quid- 
quam esse bac (ut ait) spissatione efficacius ; videlicet, frigus excludit 
et ventum. Minus prsoterea movetur, et ob hoc nascentes radices pro- 
dire patitur, ac solum apprehendere, quas necesse est teneras adhuc, et 
precarid haerentes, levis quoque revellat agitatio. Parum autem arbo- 
ris, antequam obruat, radit : Ex omni enim materia quae nudata est, ut 
ait, exeunt radices novae. Non plures autem super terram eminere 
debet truncus, quam tres aut quatuor pedes : Statim enim ab imo vesti- 
etur ; nec magna pars, quemadmodum in olivetis veteribus, arida aut 
retorrida erit. — Alter ponendi modus hie fuit. Ramos fortes, nec cor- 
ticis duri, quales esse novellarum arborum solent, eodem genere depo- 
suit. Hi paullo tardius surgunt ; sed ciim tanquam a planta proces- 
serint, nihil habent in se horridum nec triste." — Epist. Ixxxvi. p. 659. 
He says that he had likewise seen old vines removed in the same way, 
in the months of February and March, and wdth the same success. 

Note IX. Page 21. 

" Hoc mense, locis siccis, calidis, et apricis, majores arbores transfere- 
mus, truncatis ramis, illaesis radicibus, multo stercore et rigationibus 
adjuvandas." — Pallad. de Re Rust, in Novemb. tit. xvi. 

Note X. Page 22. 

Pliny gives us two descriptions, the one of his Laurentine, the other of 
his Tuscan villa, in which the garden is the most prominent feature. 
(See Epist. lib. ii. 17, lib. v. 6 ;) and the gardens of England, such as 
Lord Burleigh's, and that at Hampton Court as delineated by Hentzner, 
are accurate copies of them. There wants nothing, as is justly remarked 



382 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



by Walpole, but the embroidery of a parterre, to make a garden in the 
reign of Trajan serve for a description of one in that of King William. 
— See Anecdotes of Painting, vol. iv. 

That horticulture was really introduced into Britain by the Romans 
there is no sort of doubt, and that their proconsular governors brought 
it to a considerable height of perfection. Pliny tells us that Cherries 
were originally an Asiatic fruit, not known in Italy till after the 
triumphs of Lucullus, on account of the Mithridatic war, in the 
680th year of the city, when they were brought over by that cele- 
brated commander. But so diligently were they cultivated, that within 
one hundred and twenty years they were carried over to Britain. — 
Hist. Nat. lib. xv. 25. 

Note XI. Page 24. 

Prince Maurice of Nassau, as Barlseus informs us, was appointed 
governor of Brazil about the year 1636 ; and after several successful 
efforts, both of military and political talent, in defence of that province, 
he erected in 1639 the Palace or Government House of Friburg, and 
laid out the luxurious gardens of which an account is given in the text. 
In some parts, Barlseus is extremely happy in drawing after the manner 
of the ancient historians ; and although the passage is long, as he de- 
scribes the site, and in some sort the particulars of one of the greatest 
transplanting feats recorded in modern times, it may be worth while 
(the book being scarce) to give the passage entire for the gratification 
of the readei". " Planities horrida, inculta, nullis arboribus, nuUo frutice 

induta, sordebat situ uEdificium ea cura a Comite fuit, ut spec- 

tata salubritas fuerit, curata tranquillitas, parta loco securitas, neque 

neglecta hortorum amcenitas Surgebant Cocise spectabili serie 

septingentse, prociores aliae, alise humiliores, quarum quaedam caudicem 
attollebant quinquaginta, quaedam quadraginta, qusedam triginta pedum 
altitudine, priusquam ramorum attingeret divergia. Has cum trans- 
ferri non posse omnium esset opinio, scite effossas, petoritis, trium 
quatuorve miliarum spatio vectari, et pontonibus trans fluvios depor- 
tari, in insulam jussit. Translates, non labore soliim sed ingenio, 
excepit arnica tellus, eaque fsecunditate, prseter omnium spem, implevit 
annosas arbores, ut primo ab insitione anno mira nascendi aviditate, 
fructus dederint copiosissimos. Jam septuagenarise et octogenariae 
erant, veterique proverbio fidem imminuere, arbores annosas non esse 
transferendas.'' Histor, Rer. in Bras, gestar. pp. 240-242. 



SECTION II. 



383 



Note XII. Page 26. 

As gardening, in its largest sense, is so intimately connected with our 
present subject, and as Le Notre was the person whose example swayed 
the taste of all Europe, Great Britain only excepted, for more than a 
century, and still continues to sway the greater part of it, it may be 
worth while in this place to bestow a brief notice on the style and 
character of both the man and his works. 

Le Notre was by profession an architect, and by his uncommon 
turn for garden decoration, became a first-rate favourite with Louis 
XIV. ; who, besides ennobling him, bestowed on him the appointment 
of Comptroller-General of Buildings, and Director of the Royal Gardens. 
To the rectilinear gardens, and elaborate topiary works handed down 
from antiquity, he added rich parterres, and magnificent triumphal 
arches, long and straight alleys, lofty cascades and fountains, with 
their grotesque and strange decorations, grottos filled with architecture, 
and trellis- work covered with gilding ; and these, intermixed with a 
multitude of Thermes and Statues, seemed to the French, unaccustomed 
as they were to relish the real beauties of nature, the ne plus ultra of 
human invention. Professor Hirschfeld of Kiel, the German historian 
of modern gardening, from whom we derive these particulars, says, that 
it was the personal character of the monarch himself, and the taste of 
the age, which began to be attracted towards the restoration of the fine 
arts, that chiefly raised Le Notre to the summit of fame and popularity. 
But the nation as well as the court wanted to be dazzled ; and both 
were captivated and enchanted with what seemed at once to unite 
novelty with singularity. Ornament and tinsel, pomp and brilliancy, 
were thus universally preferred to correct taste and true greatness of 
design. It must, however, be acknowledged, adds this judicious writer, 
that Le Notre's genius was admirably suited to the taste of the times in 
which he lived, and fully gratified the leading prejudices of the French 
character. " Die Nation, so wohl als der Hof wolten nur geblendet, 
nur durch das Neue und Ausserordentliche angezaubert werden. Man 
sahe mehr auf das, was Glanz und Pracht hatte, als auf reinen Gesch- 
mack, und stille Grosse. Es ist abernicht zu laugnen, dass die Manier 
des Le Notre gerade dieses herrschende Vorurtheil, diesen Geschmack 
seiner Zeit befriedichte.'' — Theorie der Gartenhunst, B. v. p. 255. 

Le Notre's masterpiece was the gardens at Versailles, which cost two 
hundred millions of livres. He laid out, besides, Trianon, Meudon, St 
Cloud, Chantilly, &c. In 1678 he went to Italy, England, and other coun- 
tries, which one and all adopted his style. King Charles II. sent for him, 
to improve the taste of the English, when he laid out St James's Park and 



384 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Greenwich ; "certainly (as Walpole says,) no great monuments of his 
invention." 

Note XIII. Page 33. 

It is to be regretted that Sir Uvedale Price, in his very valuable 
"Essays on the Picturesque," (probably the most powerful example of 
controversial w^riting and acute criticism in the language,) should have 
somewhat lessened their effect by personal sarcasm, and the bitterness 
of controversy. As to Brown, he has not (according to the vulgar 
phrase) " left him the likeness of a dog;" and his conceit, his ignorance, 
his arrogance, his vanity, (of all of which Brown had his full share,) 
are blazoned forth in the most glaring colours. It is true, that to pull 
him down while in the zenith of his fame and popularity, and after- 
v^^ards to keep him down, surrounded as he was v^ith followers and 
flatterers, required a vigorous and powerful arm like Sir Uvedale's ; 
and no one, I think, will grudge the latter his complete triumph, or the 
castigation inflicted on his opponent, considering the lasting benefit 
which his own labours have conferred on an elegant art, and in eleva- 
ting the fame and character of the country. Still I cannot help 
thinking that poor Kent, though a man of rather limited genius, 
should have escaped more easily than he has done from the great 
critic's hands ; since it is to him that we as clearly owe the art of land- 
scape gardening, as we owe the saving of it from disgrace, and the 
placing it on just principles, to Sir Uvedale Price. May w^e not, then, 
ask, looking to the fine genius of the latter, 

Tantcene animis coelestibus irce? 

Note XIV. Page 84. 

This was James Earl of Abercorn, uncle to the first marquis, who 
succeeded him in 1789. The Earl was esteemed one of the best-bred 
men of his time, though his manners were distinguished by pomp and 
preciseness. It was said of him, that he made the tour of Europe in a 
posture so erect as never once to touch the back of his carriage! The 
country must be considered as indebted to him, as a liberal patron of 
the arts, and as being among the first persons who introduced landscape 
gardening into Scotland. 

Note XV. Page 44. 

It is here said in the text, that the lightening, that is, mutilating the 
fine tops of trees, is the ordinary, and nearly the universal practice in 



SECTION II. 



385 



England ; and it might have been added with equal truth that it pre- 
vails, more or less, in every other part of the British empire, where the 
transferring of large trees is known and practised. 

After all the investigations which I have been able to make into 
the practice of such English planters as the Marquisses of Londonderry 
and Stafford, Mr Gibson, and Sir R. Arkwright in the north, the Duke 
of Portland, Marquis of Hertford, Lord Caernarvon, Lord Grenville, 
Sir James Gardiner, Mr Thistlethwaite, and Mr Long in the south. Sir 
Aubrey De Vere Hunt, and others in Ireland, who have removed wood 
with various degrees of success, it appears that they all adhere more or 
less to the mutilating system : that they take up the trees, after 
lightening the top, with short and incompetent roots, but with a great 
mass or ball of earth attached to it : that they raise it with a strong 
crane, upon a low platform, with wheels, or rather rollers, still lower : 
and after conveying it upright and with much difficulty, they have as 
great difficulty in propping and supporting it, after being planted. 
The only improvement practised seems to be the cutting round the 
roots, according to Lord Fitzharding's method ; but that is often done 
in the season immediately preceding the removal, when little benefit 
can be derived from it. 

By this method, it is obvious that immense labour, and consequently 
very considerable expense, is incurred in the removal of wood, and far 
more than should be incurred in an art calculated to be generally use- 
ful. In fact, the objection of difficulty and expense united^ is quite suffi- 
cient to counteract or limit the adoption of any art, however valuable, 
and render it unpopular with the public. 

Note XVI. Page 49. 

The following is a list of thirty-four of the largest trees and shrubs, 
with their height and girth, removed by Dr Graham : — 

TT„. , . Gii'th at 1 

■^^^S^i*- foot high. 

Feet. Inch. Feet. Inch. 

Common Hawthorn {Cratcegm Oxyacantlia) . . 23 0 2 10 

Scarlet-flowering Hawthorn (Cratcegus Oxyacantlia 

var) 

Great American Hawthorn {Cratcegus Coccinea) 
Spotted Hawthorn {Cratcegus Pimctata) 
Cut-leaved Alder {Alnus Glutinosa var.) 
Weeping Ash {Fraxinus Excelsior var.) 
Heart-leaved Poplar {Populus Canclicans) 
Various-leaved Ash {Fraxinus Heteropkylla) 
Flowering Ash {Fraxinus Ornus) . 
Common Lime {Tilia Europcea) 



20 9 1 9| 

20 6 1 7 

17 0 2-4 

43 0 3 21 

34 0 2 10 

29 0 2 1 

34 9 2 74 

37 8 3 llf 

37 8 2 6 



386 



NOTES AND ILLUSTEATIONS. 



Height. 



Girth at 1 
foot high. 





Feet. 


Inch. 


Feet. 


Inch. 


mite Lime {Tilia Alba) 


30 


0 


3 


2 


"VVhite-Beam {Pyrus Aria) 


34 


6 


3 


H 


Weeping Bircli {Betula Alho. vai\) 


40 


0 


2 


9 


Montpelier Maple {Acer Monspessulanum) 


19 


0 


2 


5 


Common Walnut {Juglans Regia) 


24 


6 


2 


4 


Common Yew {Taxus Buccata) .... 


23 


0 


3 


6f 


Sugar Maple {Acer Saccharinum) .... 


18 


6 


1 


9 


Scarlet-flowering Maple {Acer Rubrum) 


19 


0 


1 


1 


Scarlet Oak {Quercus Coccinea) .... 


18 


8 


1 


54 


Sliell bark Walnut {Juglam Cinerea) 


17 


0 


1 


54 


Perfumed Cherry {Prunus Mahaleh) 


18 


0 


2 


n 


Chinese Arbor Vitse {Thuja Orientalis) . 


17 


0 


2 


H 


Eed Cedar {Juniper us Virginiana) 


18 


0 


1 


10 


Common Holly {Ilex Aquifolium) 


21 


0 


1 


in 


Hedgehog Holly {Ilex Aquifolium far.) 


11 


0 


1 


1 


Thick-leaved Holly {Ilex Aquifolium var.) 


12 


2 


A bush 


Andrachne StrawbeiTy-tree {Arbutus Andrachne) . 


13 


0 


2 


74 


Shi^ibby Trefoil {Ptelea Tnfoliata) 


10 


0 


1 


5| 


Blue Magnoha {Magnolia Acuminata) . 


13 


6 


1 


3f 


Constantinople Hazel-nut {Corylus Colurna) 


25 


4 


2 


04 


Cut-leaved Hornbeam {Carpinus Betulus var.) 


12 


0 


2 


3 


American Nettle-tree {Celtis Occidentalis) 


14 


0 


1 


10 


American Elm {Ulmus Americana) 


25 


6 


1 


94 


Curled-leaved Elm 


28 


6 


2 


24 



In a note, at the bottom of the above list, (which was furnished by 
the learned Professor,) he says, "We have, of course, removed more 
than a single specimen of the above ; but I have not thought it neces- 
sary to state the measurements of more than one of a kind." 

The idea, which is given in the text, of this meritorious horticultural 
effort by Dr Graham, is given from the impression which I received of 
it, on visiting the Botanic Garden in June 1823, when the oldest of the 
trees had not been longer than a twelvemonth in the ground ; and this 
effort appeared the more admirable from the circumstance, of which I 
was at the same time informed, that only one, or two at most, had died 
in the first season. On visiting the garden again in July 1827, I was 
both pleased and surprised to observe, that the more delicate plants, 
such as the Magnolia, the perfumed Cherry, the Arbutus, &c. had suc- 
ceeded the best, which showed the extraordinary care and judgment 
with which, on account of shelter, they had been massed up with others, 
and also the extraordinary attention which had been bestowed upon 
them afterwards. Of the Arbutus there is a noble specimen, supposed 
to be one of the largest in Britain. 

The ordinary forest-trees, on the other hand, such as the Lime, the 



SECTION II. 



387 



Birch, and tlie Walnut, appeared by no means so successful, although 
powerfully supported with cordage, as described in the text ; but they 
were placed in more exposed situations, and seemed less in possession of 
the protecting properties. This conjecture was confirmed to me by the 
intelligent Mr Macnab, who stated, among other things, that in the 
tallest of these trees, which were from seven-and -thirty to three- and-forty 
feet high, the roots did not exceed three and a half or four feet in 
length; a style of roots, as I observed to him, wholly inadequate to 
nourish or support plants of a far smaller size. For the reasons, there- 
fore, given in Section V. page 120 of the present work, the ingenious 
Professor must wait with patience, " until the deficiency in these pro- 
perties be made up." But I wish distinctly to repeat what is men- 
tioned in the text, that I consider Dr Graham as beyond comparison 
the ablesty the most ingenious, and the most successful horticultural trans- 
planter in Britain, or perhaps in Europe ; and I am certain that he 
would render an important service to all others who may be placed in 
similar circumstances, were he to publish an account of the particular 
process which he followed on this interesting occasion. 

It will, however, immediately occur to every reflecting planter, that, 
for the causes assigned in the text, and particularly at page 49, 

HORTICULTURAL TRANSPLANTING and TRANSPLANTING IN THE PARK, are pro- 

cesses extremelt/ different from each other, as different as hothouse cul- 
ture is from the culture of husbandry in the open field. Had I thought 
it worth while, I might have stated in the text, and stated with perfect 
truth, that the forest-trees in the Botanic Garden of Edinburgh could 
not have stood four-and-twenty hours in the park here, particularly 
about the equinox ; and that the style of success, attending them where 
they do stand, seems to show, that, up to the beginning of the present 
year (1828,) when the first edition of my Treatise came out, nothing was 
known of the principles on which parh-wood should be removed, even 
by persons the most able and scientific. And I trust it will not now 
be thought invidious, when I add, that trees planted at the same time 
as those in the botanic garden, in the most exposed situations of my park, 
are seen to make shoots between two and three feet long, and that they 
never had props or supports of any species. 

The truth is, that horticultural planting and park planting being so 
very dissimilar, as just now^ observed, (owing to the widely dissimilar 
circumstances under which they are executed,) they never can come 
into comparison, far less into competition with each other. Modern 
botanists have thought good to divide themselves into two classes — 
namely, the systematic and the physiological — but under which of the 
two the ingenious Professor ranks himself is not known to me, although 



388 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



it is pretty obvious in which of them a knowledge of the principles or 
planting of any sort is to be found. In parh planting I think it pro- 
bable that the Professor has no experience : but I venture to predict^ 
to whichever of the two classes of botanists he may belong, that, should 
he try the practice, the difficulties attending a successful execution will 
perhaps surprise him, notwithstanding the light that has been thrown 
upon it by the present Treatise. 

Before concluding this note, there are twQ circumstances which I 
think it proper to mention, as connected with the subject. The first is, 
that it has been alleged, by a very respectable and highly accomplished 
friend of Dr Graham's and mine, that, in the note on this passage, in 
the first edition of the book, the Doctor " has not been treated with 
perfect fairness.'^ This allegation has given me great pain, as there is 
no man for whom I entertain a greater respect and esteem than him- 
self. The former note, I acknowledge, was hastily written, and there- 
fore not so clearly expressed as it might have been. I have, therefore, 
re-written it as above, and I trust that it will now appear both fair and 
explicit. 

The second circumstance is, that I understand it has been said, by 
o-ther friends of the Professor's, that because, in imitation of my method, 
he did not decapitate or mutilate his forest-trees, according to the 
general practice in Britain, and all over Europe, his removals at the 
botanic garden had completely anticipated my system, and deprived it 
of any originality, which the public, as well as the periodical reviewers, 
have been pleased to attribute to it. This allegation, I conceive, 
requires no answer from me. Our respective works, whether literary 
or arboricultural, will speak for themselves. 

Note XVII. Page 53. 

Mr J. C. Loudon, in his " Encyclopaedia of Gardening,*' one of the most 
useful and interesting publications of modern times, mentions the 
remarkable progress which landscape gardening has made in Poland. 
The first example of it was at Pulawy, the principal seat of the 
Czartoryski family, on the Vistula, under the superintendence of the 
Princess Isabella Czartoryski, a lady of distinguished talents and 
accomplishments, and who had resided long in England. She carried 
over to Poland, Savage, an English gardener ; and with his assistance, 
and that of Vogel and Frey, two artists of Warsaw, she had laid out 
this magnificent place in the last century, and before 1784. In 1801, 
she published a regular treatise on the style of English gardening, with 
plates, which greatly contributed to bring the art into fashion among 



SECTION II. 



389 



her countrymen. This is perhaps the best foreign treatise on the sub- 
ject, excepting the large and excellent work of Professor Hirschfeld of 
Kiel, {Die Theorie der Gartenkunst^ which for many reasons is well 
deserving of an English dress, as the French translation gives no com- 
petent idea of the merit of the original. 

Mr Loudon, who visited Poland in 1818, and saw many trees that 
had been transplanted by Stanislaus, soon after 1764, gives the following 
account of the palace and grounds at Lazenki, which contains a curious 
picture of the manners, as well as the wood, at the residence of this 
unfortunate Prince. 

"By far the most remarkable of these gardens (says he,) is Lazenki, 
or The Bath, formed by the last King, on the site of an ancient park at 
Ujasdow, wdthin the suburbs of the city. At the beginning of the 
reign of Stanislaus, in 1764, it was a marshy wood, planted with alders, 
with some canals, and other stagnated pieces of water, near which was 
a grotesque edifice, called The Bath, from which this park takes its 
name. 

" The palace, a beautiful piece of Roman architecture, from the 
design of Camsitzer, a German artist, is placed on an island, in a con- 
siderable piece of water. It consists of a centre and two wings. The 
centre is placed in the middle of a narrow part of the lake, and the 
wings are on opposite shores, and joined to the centre by arches, with 
orangeries over them. The entrance is by a carriage-portico in one of 
the wings, to which you arrive without seeing the lake ; and on 
entering the orangery, its first effect is surprising and delightful. On 
the north shore of this lake, there is an open amphitheatre of stone, 
with its orchestra on the brink of the water ; and near the margin is an 
island of trees, which served as the proscenium. This theatre was at 
all times open to the public ; and, in addition to the ordinary exhibitions, 
ships and naval engagements were occasionally exhibited. The gaiety 
which reigned here, during the first years of the reign of Stanislaus, the 
singular effect of the illuminations, the ships, and the resounding of 
music in the woods, are still recollected by some of the oldest inhabi- 
tants of Warsaw, and spoken of with feelings of regret. 

" The grounds were not extensive, nor, excepting near the palace, 
much ornamented. They consisted of a number of broad green alleys, 
crossing each other at right angles ; and of smaller covered paths leading 
to open circles of turf, for dances and music, and for tents and booths, 
on extraordinary occasions. In several places, coffee-rooms and ice- 
cellars were established, and still remain. And there are two pavilions 
for the king's mistresses ; and another, which served as a seraglio for 
strangers, or visitors of the king ; the three being connected with 



390 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



the palace by arbour-like paths, or arcades of trellis-work, covered 
with creepers. 

" One thing deserves to be remarked as to these gardens, which is 
perhaps not to be found in any others in Europe. Pedestals, as for 
placing statues, were ranged in different parts of the grounds, particu- 
larly along the broad walk leading from the palace to the amphitheatre. 
On these pedestals, on extraordinary occasions, selected living figures, 
male and female, dressed in character were placed, and taught to main- 
tain certain attitudes, after the manner of the representations called 
Tableaux ; and which are sometimes, though rarely, produced in private 
circles at Paris and Vienna, on days when theatrical amusements are 
forbidden. In 1813, this seat was nearly in the state in which it was 
left by Stanislaus ; but we understand that it has since undergone 
several changes.'' — Encyclopmdia of Gardening, p. 54. 



SECTION III. 



Note I. Page 57. 

Marshall has a specious way of adjusting the dififerences between 
these conflicting systems ; although he seems to give it in the end in 
favour of the former, (that is, of the system of raising trees from the 
seed,) in situations where the nature of the ground will admit. " The 
dispute about sowing and planting (as he observes) may in some mea- 
sure be reconciled in the following manner. Where the strength of the 
land lies in the substratum, while the surface soil is of an ungenial 
nature, sow^ in order that the roots may strike deep, and thereby reap 
the full advantage of the treasures below. (Qu. Where did Marshall 
meet with land of this description ?) But, on the contrary, where the top 
soil is good, and the bottom of an opposite quality, (a veiy common 
case,) plant, and thereby give the roots the full enjoyment of the pro- 
ductive part of the soil. Or, under these last circumstances, sow ; and 
tap the young plants as they stand with a tapping instrument, and 
thereby check their downward tendency, as well as strengthen their 
horizontal roots. 

" By this method of treating seedling plants, the peculiar advantage of 
planting is obtained. The dispute, therefore, seems to rest entirely upon 
this question ; which of the two methods is least expensive ? To come 
at this, there are two things to be considered ; the actual expense of 
labour, and other contingent matters, and the loss of time in the land 
occupied. With respect to tlie former, sowing is beyond comparison the 
cheapest method ; but in regard to the latter, planting may seem to 
gain a preference ; for the seed-bed is small compared with the ground 
to be planted — and while that is rearing the seedling plants, this conti- 
nues to be applied to the purposes of husbandry. However, if we con- 
sider the check which plants in general receive in transplantation, and 
if the interspaces of an infant wood may for several years after sowing 
be still cultivated to advantage, the preference, we conceive, is evidently 
and beyond all dispute on the side of sowing." — Rural Ornament, vol. i. 
pp. 121-123. 



392 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



As this is a question of some moment, and has divided the most judi- 
cious writers and planters for a century back, it must be interesting to 
the young planter to have a concise summary of the evidence as fur- 
nished by our best vrriters on the one side and on the other, such as 
may assist him to determine which is most consonant to rational theory, 
supported and enforced by the best practice. 

Miller, no mean authority as an arboriculturist, says (as we have 
seen) that no trees transplanted, and especially the Oak, will ever pro- 
duce such valuable timber as those raised from the seed. Marshall, as 
we have seen also, prefers sowing the seed, wherever the ground is 
capable of being worked with the plough. Evelyn, Emmerich, and 
though last, not least, the intelligent Speedily, are of the same opinion, 
although Speechly's extensive practice was sometimes at variance with 
this sentiment. Nicol and Pontey have practised both methods exten- 
sively, and they offer no arguments against sowing, where situation and 
circumstances admit. Sang, who in point of practical skill is not in- 
ferior to any of these Avriters, says, " It is an opinion very generally 
entertained, that planted timber can never in any case be equal in dura- 
bility and value to that which is sown. We certainly feel ourselves in- 
clined to support this opinion, although we readily admit, that the 
matter has not been so fully established by experiment, as to amount to 
positive proof. But, although w^e have not met with decided evidence, 
to determine on the comparative excellence of timber raised from the 
seed, without being replanted, over such as has been raised from re- 
planted trees, we are left in no doubt as to the preference in respect to 
growth of those trees which are sown, over such trees as are planted."— 
Planter's Calendar, p. 43. The same writer prefers, and with great 
justice, this mode of raising the Scotch Pine and the Larch. 

The late Dr Yule, an able botanist, in an excellent paper which he 
gave to the Horticultural Society of Edinburgh, (for want, as he re- 
marked to me, of a more appropriate body to which he might commu- 
nicate it,) strongly recommends the sowing of seeds, for permanent 
plantations. " It is a well ascertained fact (he says) that seedlings 
allowed to remain in their original station, will, in the course of a few 
seasons, far overtop common nursed plants, which are several years 
older. This principle, however, is of course strictly applicable to forest- 
timber trees. Where shelter or ornament is speedily wanted, the trans- 
planting of grown trees, laying, budding, inarching, and other means 
must consequently be substituted." — Horticidt. Mem.Yol. ii. pp. 418, 419. 

The ingenious author of the "Encyclopaedia of Agriculture," on impar- 
tially considering these different opinions, observes, respecting those of 
Sang and Yule in particular, that they seem to be founded on the idea 



SECTION III. 



393 



that the tap-root is of material importance to full-grown trees, and that 
when that is once cut off, the plant has not the power of renewing it. 
" That the tap-root (he observes) is of the utmost consequence for the 
first three or four years, is obvious from the economy of nature at that 
age of the plant, perhaps for a longer period ; but that it can be of no 
great consequence to full-grown trees, appears highly probable from the 
fact, that when such trees are cut down, the tap-root is seldom to be dis- 
tinguished from the others." — (P. 572.) Forsyth, an arboriculturist of 
considerable experience, has distinctly shown by experiments, that trees 
have the power of renewing their tap-roots ; and he further proves the 
great advantages that are derived from cutting down trees, after two or 
three years' planting, in order to form healthy and vigorous woods. He 
transplanted, as he states, a bed of Oak-plants, cutting the tap-roots 
near to some of the side roots, or fibres springing from them. In the 
second 3^ear after, he headed down the one half of the plants, and left 
the other half to nature. In the first season, those headed down made 
six feet long, and upwards, and completely covered the head of the old 
stem, leaving only a faint cicatrix, and produced new tap-roots upwards 
of two feet and a-half long. That half of the plants which w^as not 
headed down, was not one fourth part the size of the others. Some 
time after, when he wrote the account, one of the plants cut over was 
found to be eighteen feet high, and fifteen inches in circumference at 
six inches from the ground ; while one of the largest of the plants not 
cut over, measured only five feet and a half in height, and three inches 
and three quarters in circumference.— See Treatise on Fruit Trees, 
p. 144. 

On considering the whole question, it appears to me, that as the Pine 
and Fir species receive the greatest check from transplanting, and as, 
when planted at four and five years old, they do not readily grow to 
timber, it is clear, that they should always be sowed, or at least planted 
very young, in high and cold regions. Respecting all trees that stool, 
I entirely concur in opinion with the intelligent author of the "Encyclo- 
paedia of Gardening," that, with any tolerable soil and ^\\Mi2iX\(m, planting 
will he found preferable to sowing, if strong and healthy plants be used, 
and such as have not been too much drawn up by the heat of the nur- 
sery, taking care to cut them down after the second, or, much better, 
after the third year, when they have been established in the ground. 

Note II. Page 59. 

As I consider Miller as one of the greatest authorities we have, for 
whatever relates to trees, I shall beg leave to give his opinion at large 



394 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



on the subject of the removal of large trees. To this art he undoubt- 
edly was not partial, from the great want of science which he saw dis- 
played by those who practised it in his day ; and he could form no con- 
ception, either of the general progress of science which we see now 
attained, or its application to this particular branch of rural economy. 

" The modern practice of transplanting forest-trees, from hedge-rows 
and woods of large size, and at a great expense, has too generally pre- 
vailed in this kingdom (England,) the generality of planters being in 
too great haste, and by a mistaken notion of saving time, begin by 
transplanting such large trees as they find on their own estates, or that 
they can procure in their neighbourhood, and please themselves with the 
hopes of having fine plantations soon ; but if, instead of removing these 
trees, they would begin by making a nursery, and raising their trees 
from seed, they would save a great expense, and much time, and they 
would have the constant pleasure of seeing their trees annually advance 
in their growth, instead of growing worse, as will always be the case 
where old trees are removed ; though many persons flatter themselves 
with the hopes of success, when they find their trees shoot out the fol- 
lowing season. .... 

" I have seen great numbers of tall Oaks transplanted, which have 
appeared to thrive for some years, when first planted ; but in five or six 
years after, they have begun to decay at top, and have leisurely died to 
the ground, than which nothing can be a more disagreeable sight to the 
owner. And the method which is commonly practised in transplanting 
these trees, would destroy them, were there a possibility of such large 
trees surviving their removal, which is, that of cutting of all their 
branches : for were the same practised on a tree of the same age unre- 
moved, it would stint the growth so much as not to be recovered in several 
years, nor would it ever arrive to the size of such as have all their 
branches left on them. But the reason given for this practice is, that if 
the branches were left upon the trees, they could not be supported — the 
winds would throw them out of the ground ; and another (which is bad 
philosophy) is, that, as the roots have been greatly reduced by transplant- 
ing, so the heads of the trees should be reduced in the same proportion. 
As to the first, it must be allowed that trees which are removed with 
great heads, are with great difficulty preserved in their upright situa- 
tion ; for the winds will have such power against the branches as to 
overset the trees, if they are not very strongly supported with ropes; there- 
fore, this may be brought as an objection to the transplanting of large trees, 
rather than in support of a practice which is so prejudicial to them. And 
as to the other reason, it has no foundation : for, if large amputations 
are made at the root, there should not be the same practised on the head; 



SECTION III. 



395 



because the wounded part of the head will imbibe the air at every ori- 
fice, to the great prejudice of the tree. 

" Besides this, if we pay any regard to the doctrine of the circulating 
of the juices in plants, we must allow that the heads of the trees are 
equallj/ useful to nourish the roots, as the roots are to the heads ; so that, 
if there is a waste of sap both at the top and bottom of the trees, it 
must weaken them in proportion. For whoever will be at the trouble 
to try the experiment on two trees of equal age and health, and cut the 
branches off from one, and leave them upon the other at the time of 
transplanting, if the latter is well secured from blowing down, it will 
be found to succeed much letter than the other. Or, if the same thing is 
practised upon two trees left standing, the tree, whose branches are cut 
off, will not mahe half the progress as the other, nor will the stem in- 
crease in its bulk half so fast. Therefore, where trees are transplanted 
young, there will be no necessity for using this unnatural amputation, 
and the success of these plantations will always give pleasure to the 
owner." — Gardener's and Botanisfs Diction, in voc. Planting." 

I have particular satisfaction in quoting these sentiments from the 
great work of Miller, and I have little doubt of their being perused with 
equal satisfaction by the discerning reader. In fact, no advocate of the 
system which is attempted to be established in this Essay, could have 
given this material part of its principles with greater force and truth. 
It clearly shows that, if arboricultural science, in respect to this art, 
had not been stationary/ for a century in England, the giving immediate 
effect to wood, instead of being, as it now is, a rude and uncertain practice, 
would long since have risen to the rank of a regular art, justly esteemed, 
and as generally cultivated. 

Note III. Page 63. 

According to the best late phytologists, water is an agent as necessary 
to the development of vegetable life, as it seems to be a constituent of 
vegetable organisation. A dry seed does not act on the surrounding air, 
until it has imbibed water. Water is likewise the vehicle by which 
nutrient matter is carried into plants, and in the opinion of some, is 
even reduced in them to a solid form, and applied to the purposes of 
nutrition. See Ellis, Veget. Physiol, in Suppl. Encyclop. Britan. 

Notwithstanding what is here said in the text, respecting light as a 
condition of internal development peculiar to plants, it may be doubted 
whether it be not nearly as necessary to animals. Cattle will not 
fatten so wellj when stall-fed or shut up, as on good ground, and in 
fine weather, with the free enjoyment of light. Light is caloric ; and 



396 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



the difference between night and day in this respect is extremely 
curious. The substratum of ground on which beasts feed, as affected 
b}'- caloric, is a subject which deserves greater chemical and physiologi- 
cal investigation than has as yet been bestowed upon it. 

Note IV. Page 65. 

It has been doubted by some phytologists, whether trees generate 
heat. I believe it is certain, notwithstanding what is cursorily stated 
in the text, that frosts of very extraordinary severity will destroy trees. 
The non-conducting property of wood may in some measure protect the 
juices ; but their chemical composition, as here stated, is such that they 
do not congeal, unless the cold be of the severest sort, and many degrees 
below the freezing point of water. In w^eather so hard as to occasion 
the juices to freeze, the wood, in the act of congelation, is violently 
rent asunder ; but in the more common destruction of woody plants, 
it is not so much the degree of cold that kills them, as the too 
sudden re-application of heat. 

The ingenious Hassenfratz, to whom the chemical world is under 
some obligations, held that vegetables are not fed by carbonic acid. 
In a memoir on the nourishment of vegetables, read in 1792 to the 
Royal Academy of Paris, having shown, as he conceived, that water 
and air are insufficient for all the purposes of vegetation, he attemp- 
ted in a second ingenious paper to prove that carbonic acid gas is 
not decomposed and digested in the organs of growing vegetables, and 
that they cannot be fed by it ; because oxygen, escaping from com- 
bination in the decomposition of carbonic acid, and water escaping 
in vapour in the state of gas, would absorb caloric, and produce 
cold ; whereas, by the experiments of the late John Hunter, living 
vegetables contain a degree of heat greater than that of the sur- 
rounding atmosphere. The reason of this difference in opinion between 
these two accurate inquirers may possibly be, that Hunter's experi- 
ments were made only in the autumn, the winter, and early in the 
spring, when the activity of vegetation was suspended, which does 
not seem to have been the case respecting those of Hassenfratz. 

It appears, however, that both Ruchert and Senebier ascertained 
that vegetables do decompose carbonic acid, retaining the carbon, and 
emitting the oxygen. Dr Woodward made many experiments with 
plants of mint growing in water, and found that a plant, in water 
from the Thames, which must certainly have contained a large share 
of carbonic acid, increased considerably more in weight, than a plant 
growing in pure water. Schoppett, who examined the temperature 



SECTION IIL 



397 



of growing trees in New York, found that from November to April, 
when the bulb of a thermometer was put into a hole made in a trees, 
the mercury rose higher than in the open air ; and that the colder 
the weather, the greater of course w^as this difference. From April 
to November, on the other hand, the thermometer showed a lower 
temperature in the tree than in the open air. And Ingenhoutz found, 
that a piece of green paper, hung on a tree, in a warm summer 
day, felt sensibly warmer than the leaves. Hunter likewise, who 
was fond of trees, used to keep thermometers in them for months 
together, and obtained similar results. — The subject is curious, and 
is the more deserving of the planter's investigation, that the state 
of the bark, and its power, when thick and indurated, to protect the 
sap-vessels, are so intimately connected with all facts that tend to illus- 
trate the subject. 

Note V. Page 66. 

Of the close analogy which subsists between the animal and vegetable 
kingdoms, many other examples respecting the former might be adduced 
besides those mentioned in the text, in order to show how universally 
nature generates provisions for individuals, in order to fit them for the 
situations in which they are placed. The general rule seems to be, as 
mentioned in the text, that where there is a great external application 
of cold, an adequate non-conducting covering is supplied, to prevent the 
subtraction of internal caloric ; and in the same way, that covering is 
withdrawn on a greater application of heat. Of the latter the coach 
or racehorse furnishes a familiar example, with his smooth and silky 
coat, enjoying the warmth and shelter of a well-constructed stable, 
when we compare it with the rough and shaggy one which he wears, 
when running out in winter. The coats of warm-blooded animals ap- 
pear to be thick and fine, in proportion to the intensity of the cold they 
are destined to endure ; and they are always thicker and finer in winter 
than in summer. Accordingly, (as stated in the text,) the fur-bearing 
animals all inhabit high latitudes, and the value of their skins increases 
in proportion to the severity of the cold in which they are killed. 

Of the natural clothing of animals in cold countries, the Musk Ox of 
Melville Island, as observed by late voyagers, furnishes a striking in- 
stance ; as the immense mass of non-»conducting matter which covers 
that animal, renders him capable of existing in a temperature where 
even mercury freezes, and of which we can form no adequate conception. 
The long, hairy, and dense garb of the Kamtschatka Mammoth, that 
most powerful of quadrupeds, embalmed in ice, sufficiently proves the 



898 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



nature of such a coat, as enabled him to live in the coldest latitudes; and 
which the elephant of tropical birth, with his unprotected hide, could 
not certainly have endured. In the same way, between the tropics, 
were the trunks of trees not defended from the downward and burning 
rays of the sun, by a thick, expanded, and umbrageous foliage, there is 
reason to think that their bark would be scorched and severely injured ; 
while the same vertical rays harmlessly descend on the woolly head of 
the negro ; who, without that light and natural turban, would, like the 
defenceless European, often fall a victim to the " stroke of the sun ; 
coup de soleil I will not call it, because the phenomenon is just as well 
and clearly expressed in our own language. 

Note VI. Page 67. 

Aristotle, who enjoyed the double honour of being the father of 
Natural History as well as of Metaphysics, says {De Bespirat. c. 10. 
and the same principle is frequently inculcated throughout his other 
works,) Se h Opyavov XpWi^l^ov as eVei [jia.Tr]V Spcofxev ovbev TTOiovcrau 
rrjv (j)vaLV^ dvolv 8e ovtolv, ddrepov av rjv jjbdrqv ; meaning to intimate, that 
Nature bestows not, on either animals or vegetables, any thing in vain ; 
that, while she wisely effects her purposes by the easiest and most 
direct methods, she withdraws the interposition of the agents as soon as 
their office becomes superfluous. This principle is exemplified in no 
instance better than in trees, and in their uniform possession of pro- 
perties which are best adapted to their peculiar circumstances. 

Note VII. Page 69. 

The great and leading doctrine with the planters of England, respect- 
ing the removal of trees, seems to be, that " old trees and young possess 
similar properties ; therefore, they should be removed on similar prin- 
ciples ;" which principles, as they sanction the unnecessary retrench- 
ment of both the tops and roots of young plants, the same retrenchment 
is applicable to those organs in plants of any age. This doctrine is not 
new, as it was known and acted on more than a century ago. About 
forty years since, it was revived by Marshall and others, and is now a 
favourite one with some of the best writers of the present day, from 
whom I regret being under the necessity of differing. The fact is, that 
the basis of the proposition in respect to young plants, being unstable, 
any superstructure raised upon it must fall to the ground. But were 
this otherwise, and that it were ri^ht to mutilate young plants, it would 
not from thence follow that old plants should likewise be mutilated ; 



SECTION III. 



399 



because (as has been explained in the text) plants, like animals, being 
the creatures of circumstances, circumstances in both old and young 
are perpetually changing ; therefore similar properties never can be 
possessed by both. 

In one of the most scientific and justly popular works of the present 
times, " The Encyclopiedia of Agriculture," we find the above proposi- 
tion, respecting old trees, enunciated in the broadest and most unquali- 
fied terms ; and so clear and undeniable does it appear to the author, 
that he reduces its application to a sort of arithmetical proportion, and 
in that condensed form delivers it as an axiom, for the guidance of the 
young planter in retrenching the tops as well as the roots of his large 
trees.* " As the whole quantity of roots (says he) which the tree had 
before removal, is to the whole quantity of branches which it now has, 
(i. e. when not mutilated,) so is the quantity of roots which it now has 
(after mutilation,) to the quantity of top which it ought to have." In 
other words, as you have no means of taking up roots in sufficient 
number to nourish the branches, and must on that account retrench 
and mutilate them, so you may e'en lop and mutilate the branches also, 
to the limited number which can be nourished by your roots. Now I 
should conceive that the more philosophical way of proceeding would 
have been, first to ascertain by facts and experiments, whether it were 
right and salutary for the well-being of the tree to lop and lighten the 
branches at all 1 And, if it appeared to be proper not to lop, but to 
preserve them, then to seek for some method of taking up the roots in 
such numbers as were adequate to the sustenance of the branches. 
This, as appears in the text, is the very object and basis of the system 
recommended in this treatise, which, being the one pointed out by 
nature herself, must necessarily be the true one. 

Let us hear what the sagacious and experienced Miller says as to the 
propriety of retrenching the roots and branches of young woody plants, 
as is recommended by the present method. " First (says he) as to the 
roots. All the small fibres are to be cut off, as near to the place from 
whence they are produced as may be, excepting such trees as are to be 
replanted immediately/ after tliey are taken up ; otherwise, the air will 
turn all the small roots and fibres black, which if permitted to remain 
on, when the tree is planted, will grow mouldy and decay. 

" After having displaced the proper branches, you should also cut 

* Lest there should be any doubt that the lightening of the tops of the 
trees is meant to be a complete one, we find that the two trees, shown attached 
to the transplanting machines, in the two wood-cuts in the EncyclopEedias of 
Gardening and Agriculture, are effectually lightened and reduced to nearly the 
condition of pollards. See Garden, p. 335. Agrictdt. p. 454. 



400 



KOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



off all such parts of branches as have by accident been broken or 
wounded ; for these will remain a disagreeable sight, and often occa- 
sion disease in the tree. But you should hy no means cut off tlie main 
leading shoots y as is by too many practised ; for those are necessary to 
attract the sap from the root, and thereby promote the growth of the 
tree : For, from several experiments which I made in the winter of 
1729, by cutting off the branches of several sorts of trees, and putting 
them into phials filled with water, whose tops were closely covered to 
prevent the evaporating of the water, I found that those shoots, whose 
leading beds were preserved^ did attract the moisture in much greater 
quantity than those shoots whose tops were cut off. 

" But being willing to try this experiment again, in the month of 
October 1733, I made choice of two standard Almond Trees of equal 
strength and age. These I took up as carefully as possible ; and hav- 
ing prepared their roots as before directed, I pruned their heads in the 
following manner — viz. from one of them I cut off only the small 
branches, and such as were bruised or broken, but preserved all the 
strong ones entire: Of the other / shortened all the strong branches, and 
pruned off the weak and broken shoots, as is the common practice. These 
two trees I planted in the same soil and in the same situation, gave 
them both equal attendance, and managed them both as nearly alike 
as possible ; yet in the spring, when these trees began to shoot, that 
whose branches were entirely preserved came out early ^ continued to shoot 
stronger, and is at present much larger and in better health than the 
other. And, since this, I have made several other experiments of the 
like nature, which have constantly succeeded in the same manner : 
from whence it is reasonable to conclude that the shortening of the 
branches is a great injury to all new planted trees ; but especially to 
Cherries and Horse-Chestnuts, which are frequently killed by shorten- 
ing their large branches when they are removed." — Gardener's and 
Botanist" s Diet, in voc. " Planting." 

Here, then, is the most satisfactory evidence deduced from facts, and 
from the practice of a man of acknowledged science and observation, 
that it is utterly injurious, even to young trees, to mutilate their roots or 
tops, in the way commonly practised : hence we must a fortiori admit, 
that it is far more injurious to those of old trees ; and that the more 
sedulously both are preserved entire, the more vigorous will be their 
development. 

In Note II. of the present section, page 893, &c. Miller, as w^e have 
seen, so strongly reprobates the " bad philosophy" (as he terms it) or 
want of science displayed by transplanters of large trees in his own 
time, in lopping and lightening their tops, that it would be superfluous 



SECTION III. 



401 



to repeat it here ; but it is particularly deserving of the attention of the 
reader. I have mj^self made several experiments in order to compare 
the different progress of trees, both young and old, that had their tops 
lightened with that of others in which the tops had been left untouched, 
and the results have been similar to those experienced by Miller ; only, 
in the latter, the results were more striking, on account of the more 
advanced age of the trees. But I feel peculiar satisfaction in being 
able to strengthen my own opinion by the authority of so eminent a 
phytologist, whose great work cannot be too frequently recommended 
to the young planter's notice. It is most particularly valuable in the 
edition of the late Professor Martyn of Cambridge ; who, besides 
nearly doubling the whole matter contained in the original work, has 
added some new and valuable articles, and brought the history of 
the plants enumerated down to the present times. 

Note VIII. Page 72. 

If the reasonings in the foregoing part of this Section be well 
founded, the proposition in question here must necessarily be true in 
respect to trees removed from exposed to sheltered situations, as 
well as its converse ; but probably there is no one who has verified it 
by experiment. 

In 1818, I transferred some Beeches, Oaks, Witch Elms, Limes, 
and Sycamores, from an exposed situation, in order to form a close 
screen of some size in conjunction with Underwood, which screen 
or plantation was accordingly executed. These trees possessed, in a 
very considerable degree, what has been called in the text the pro- 
tecting properties, so that they might with great advantage have 
been set out in the open park. In 1826, at the distance of eight 
years, it was quite visible that these properties had greatly dis- 
appeared, and that the non-protecting were about to be superinduced 
in their stead. In the spring of the year last mentioned, I removed 
to an exposed situation in the park, a few of the Oaks and Beeches 
from the centre of the wood, where the warmth was the greatest, 
and where they had begun to be drawn up ; and I am persuaded 
that, in ten or twelve years more, the former properties will return, 
and be as fully developed as they were in the beginning. 

In 1809, I took two fine Sycamores about five-and- twenty feet 
high, amply provided with the protecting properties, and fitted for 
situations of the greatest exposure, and removed them into the centre 
of a close wood. Being well supplied with roots, they were soon 
established in the ground, and began to push vigorously towards the 

2 c 



402 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



light. Their stems were speedily elongated ; their bark became 
smoother ; their side branches more slender, and thinner in spray 
and foliage ; and by 1816 — that is, after seven years — they could 
scarcely be recognised as the same plants. Soon after the fall of that 
season, I once more transferred them to the open field. Here, 
although they carried a good leaf, they appeared for some time 
altogether stationary in their progress, as was to be expected. In 
the absence of the shelter and warmth which they had so long 
experienced, they could not at once generate provisions to enable 
them to resist the cold : but in consonance to that law of nature 
by which " plants, as well as animals, accommodate themselves to the 
circumstances in which they are placed," they began gradually but 
slowly to generate them ; so that it was only in 1824 that I observed 
the trees to display any decided symptoms of induration of bark, 
increase of roots, stoutness of stem, and closeness of ramification, 
which constitute such provisions — and it is evident that it will require 
some years more to effect a complete renovation of their former 
character. 

From this short account we may perceive, that while trees retain 
their full vigour — that is, while they continue in a rapidly progres- 
sive state — they may be made alternately to assume or lay aside 
those properties which best fit them for removal. Moreover we see, 
that, as vegetation is always greatly more active in shelter than in 
exposure, the properties just now mentioned — that is, the protecting 
properties — are far more slowly obtained or reassumed than the non- 
protecting. From such facts and experiments, therefore, as well as 
from analogy, we are warranted to conclude, that the doctrine held 
forth in the text is fully confirmed — namely, that "by the law of 
nature, shelter and exposure — that is, heat and cold — ^have the power 
alike of diminishing or increasing, of bestowing or taking away, 
what may be called the protecting properties." 



SECTION IV. 



Note I. Page 87. 

Malpighi was bom A. D. 1628. He was a native and physician of 
Bologna, and professor of medicine in the university of that city. For 
his discoveries in Anatomy he has been justly celebrated, in conjunction 
with the well-known Borelli, and for having thrown light on the 
diseases of the liver. He was the first writer who gave to the world a 
system of the true Anatomy of Plants, of which one of the most 
important doctrines is the theory of the circulation of the sap, its 
ascent in the wood, and its descent in the bark. His work seems to 
have appeared in 16/1. In 1669 he was admitted a Fellow of the 
Royal Society of London ; and he kept up a regular correspondence 
with several of its members till his death. 

Dr Nehemiah Grew, the father of English phytology, and one of 
the most eminent physicians of his time, was a contemporary of 
Malpighi's. He published about the same period his " Anatomy of 
Plants," wherein he advanced, on similar principles, the doctrine of the 
circulation of the sap. The second edition bears date, London, 1688 ; 
so that, as they investigated and wrote in different countries, and with- 
out communication with each other on this obscure subject, so they 
justly divide the honour of realising the conjectures of the Greek 
Naturalists. Notwithstanding the importance of later researches, their 
works are held in high esteem down to the present period. 

Note II. Page 88. 

It was extremely natural for phytologists, after the discovery of the 
circulation of the blood in animals, to extend the analogy to the vege- 
table kingdom. They had in the latter no visible organs correspond- 
ing to the stomach, the intestines, or the lacteals, and above all, to the 
heart, the main-spring and centre of the circulation of the blood ; but 
these wants were readily supplied. The root was supposed to corre- 
spond to both the mouth and the stomach, and to effect such a change 



404 



NOTES AND ILLUSTEATIONS. 



on the fluid which it absorbed as fitted it for the nourishment of the 
plant. It was supposed also to have the power of propelling the 
digested fluid, when impregnated with the principles of nutrition, 
growth, and development, to the summit of the leaf. From thence it 
was again returned to the root, where, mingling with the newly 
digested fluid, it was again propelled to the summit as before ; and in 
that way a regular circulation was maintained. In this process these 
propelling vessels were said to be arteries, and the returning vessels 
were considered as veins. Such is the theory of the circulation of the 
sap held forth by the earlier phytologists ; and as it was found to rest 
on a very slender basis, they did not fail to prop and bolster it up with 
a multitude of ingenious arguments. 

Of late years the doctrine has been revived, as mentioned in the text, 
and supported by some of the most distinguished modern phytologists ; 
but it has been improved by patient investigation and accurate experi- 
ment, and cleared of all ill-founded analogy to animal life. Hedwig 
declared himself to be of opinion, that plants possess a circulation of 
the fluids in some sort similar to that of animals. Costi united in the 
same opinion, and is said to have found it exemplified in the stem of the 
Chara and other plants. Professor "Willdenow, in his principles of 
botany, has also introduced the subject, and defended the doctrine. (See 
English Translation, p. 85.) He confidently asserts that he believes a 
circulation to exist, because it would be utterly impossible for the 
leafless tree to resist the cold if there were no circulation of the fluids. 
This, as Mr Keith observes, " is no argument, and therefore merits no 
reply ; " — ^yet we must admit that it is a presumption of which the 
force is more easily evaded than invalidated. 

It is impossible, in the narrow compass of a note, to give a detail of 
Mr Knight's ingenious and valuable experiments, to account for the 
conversion of the alburnum into wood ; but the reader is referred for 
them to the Philosophical Transactions for 1805 and 1806. By these 
experiments he will see that it is rendered in the highest degree prohahh, 
if it be not altogether certain, that a circulation of the vegetable fluids 
actually exists : for if it once be admitted that the descending or proper 
juice forms not only a new epidermis where it is wanted, and a new 
layer of liber and alburnum, but that it also partly enters into the 
Alburnum of the preceding year, where it mingles, and is again carried 
up with the ascending sap, it cannot well be denied that a circulation 
is completed. That Mr Keith is prettt/ nearly of this opinion himself, 
may be gathered from the follov/ing concise summary of Mr Knight's 
hypothesis, by that acute and ingenious censor : — 

" Although the doctrine of a circulation," says he, " as maintained by 



SECTION IV. 



405 



Mr Knight, should he false, yet the account ■which he gives of the 
progress and agency of the sap, and proper juice, short of circulation, 
may he true. The sum of the account is as follows : when the seed is 
deposited in the ground, under proper conditions, moisture is absorbed 
and modified by the cotyledons, and conducted directly to the radicle, 
"which is by consequence first developed. But the fl.uid which has 
been thus conducted to the radicle, mingling no doubt with the fluid 
which is now also absorbed from the soil, ascends afterwards to the 
plumelet, through the medium of the tubes of the alburnum. The 
plumelet now expands, and gives the due preparation to the ascending 
sap, returning it also, in its elaborated state, to the tubes of the bark, 
through which it again descends to the extremity of the root ; not only 
forming in its progress new bark, and new alburnum, but mixing also, 
as Mr Knight thinks, with the alburnum of the former year, where 
such alburnum exists, and so completing the circulation." — Physiolog. 
Botany, vol. ii. p. 244. See also, on the same subject, Kieser, Organ, 
des Plantes, pp. 258, 259, &c. 

This note has been extended to an unusual length ; but I conceived, 
that it would be interesting to the young planter, to have a brief 
account of the principal theories which have been formed of the circula- 
tion of the sap, and the ultimate conclusion, to which late writers have 
come, as it is one of the most obscure, though important processes, in 
the whole of vegetable economy. 

Note III. Page 92. 

Although trees, as is said in the text, have no organs analogous to 
the mouths of animals for receiving their food, yet perhaps it may be 
said, that animals sometimes take in their food like trees. Men, for 
example, have been known to become so debilitated by age or disease 
that they could receive no food by the ordinary organ of the mouth. 
The consequence has been, that they were immersed in milk and veal- 
broth baths, and fairly subsisted by means of absorption. Thus, every 
one of their pores became like leaves for the introsusception of food. 
Some few years since an instance occurred in a noble Duke of sporting 
notoriety, who was so supported during the last months of his life. 

Note IV. Page. 95. 

Opinions quite opposite to these are entertained by Dr Yule, and also 
by Sang, who is a nurseryman and a planter of some experience ; but 
they are not borne out by facts. The author of the Encyclopaedia of 



406 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Agriculture entirely agrees in the sentiment expressed in the text, 
regarding the renovation of the tap-roots in trees. 

" The opinion,'' he observes, " that young plants have not the power 
of renewing their tap-roots, will, we believe, be found inconsistent with 
fact ; and we may appeal to Sang, and other nurserymen, who raise 
the Oak and Horse-Chestnut from the seed. It is customary, when 
these are sown in drills, to cut off their tap-roots, without removing 
the plants, at the end of the second year's growth ; and when, at the 
end of the third and fourth year, they are taken up, they will be found 
to have acquired other tap-roots — not indeed so strong as the first would 
have been, had they remained, but sufficient to establish the fact of the 
Ijower of renewal. We may also refer to the experiments recorded by 
Forsyth, which at once prove that trees have the power of renewing 
their tap-roots, and the great advantages resulting from cutting down 
trees after two or three years' planting. Forsyth says, * that he trans- 
planted a bed of Oak plants, cutting the tap-roots near to some of the 
side-roots, or fibres springing from them. In the second year after, he 
headed one half of the plants down, and left the other half to nature. 
In the first season those headed down made shoots six feet long, and 
upwards, and completely covered the head of the old stem, leaving only 
a faint cicatrix, and produced new tap-roots upwards of two feet and a 
half long.' "— Encyclop. of Agricul. Part III. Book ii. p. 572. 

The power, which tap-roots unquestionably possess, of renewal after 
being cut, is a point of considerable interest to the art under discussion : 
and it is important that it should be ascertained beyond controversy^ 
that the cutting of them under ground does no material injury to trees ; 
otherwise it would follow that all removal is materially injurious. 

Before we quit the subject of tap-roots, it is worthy of notice, that 
the ingenious Mr Knight, to whom phytological science is under so 
many obligations, has suggested the notion that gravitation is the agent 
employed by nature to make the germens of plants ascend in the air, 
and their radicles go down into the earth ; and this doctrine he has 
endeavoured to establish on the ground of experiment. See Philos. 
Trans. 1806, pp. 100, 101, et seq. But it seems much more reasonable 
to believe, that the radicles of trees possess energies quite capable of 
counteracting the influence of gravitation, when needful, and that it 
does not constitute the sole, or even the principal agent of nature in this 
business. If gravitation were the sole cause of giving a direction to 
roots, it might be asked why roots select the best soil in descending, 
which they are well known to do ? Because, if acted on only by gravita- 
tion, they would have no choice but to descend, unless prevented by 
some obstacle that could not be surmounted. Such an obstacle might 



SECTION IV. 



407 



indeed stop them, or turn them aside, but it could not make them grow 
upwards, or ascend a bank, as they are also known to do in search of 
food. 

As to the tap-root of the Oak, about which so much has been said, 
Duhamel asserts its existence, and Mr Knight denies it ; but from my 
own experience, I am forced to agree with the former writer. I think 
that, as stated in the text, a striking resemblance is found to exist 
between the leading branches of this and several other trees and their 
tap-roots ; and that as both, at the mature age of the plants, uniformly 
lose their pre-eminent character, so they are not only analagous to, 
but co-existent with each other. For an examination of Mr Knight's 
theory as to gravitation, I refer the curious reader to a paper on that 
subject by Mr Keith, author of Physiological Botany, which is full of 
learning and ingenuity, and serves, in my opinion, fully to restore tap- 
roots to their place in phytology. See Thomson's An. of Philos. voL 
xiii. p. 252. 

Note V. Page 97. 

As there is no process in the whole range of arboricultural economy 
more important than pruning, it may be worth while to say something 
on it in this place. Pruning may be said to embrace the five following 
objects : first, to advance the growth and bulk of trees ; secondly, to. 
reduce or lessen their bulk ; thirdly, to modify or alter their form" ; 
fourthly, to renew their decayed parts ; and fifthly, to cure and eradi- 
cate the diseases to which they are subject. 

Of these the most important, and, till of late years, certainly the least 
attended to, is the first ; as the ultimate value of the wood in most 
cases depends upon it, and the actual weight of the timber produced. 
With all deciduous trees cultivated for profit, the art is to cut off, at an 
early age, the weak and superfluous lateral shoots, so that the portion 
of sap employed in their nourishment may be thrown into the strong 
ones ; and above all to direct a proper portion of the ligneous matter of 
the tree into the main stem or trunk, and thereby generate clean and 
sound timber. But in effecting that purpose, much judgment and some 
science are requisite ; because, as branches are just as necessary to the 
nourishment of the tree as roots, (namely, in elaborating by means of 
their leaves, and carrying down to the stem the descending sap,) so, if 
they be retrenched to excess, the nourishment of the tree must be 
checked ; or it may happen, although you succeed in advancing the 
hulk of the wood, that you may very sensibly deteriorate its quality^ 
and consequently its value. 

With a view to establish a proper system of pruning, Mr William 



408 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Pontey, an intelligent nurseryman and planter of Huddersfield, in 
1806 published a treatise, entitled, "Tiie Forest Pruner, or Timber- 
Owner's Assistant ; " and the simplicity of the system there delineated, 
not less than its merit, soon contributed to bring it into very general 
repute. But if the truth must be spoken, I fear that it has done more 
injury, as well as more good, to the woods of Britain, than any other 
work that has appeared within a century. Great good it has unques- 
tionably done, wherever the system it recommends has been cautiously 
modified and controlled by science ; and injury as certainly, where 
the instructions of the author have been literally followed out. The 
radical error of Pontey lay in this — that having once discovered, by cut- 
ting away the side-branches, that the stem was capable of being elon- 
gated, and its bulk in certain cases increased, he naturally enough 
thought that too many side-branches could not be cut away. But let 
any one acquainted with phytological science, or the anatomy of plants, 
only cast his eye on the frontispiece of that treatise, which furnishes a 
specimen of the art of pruning as approved and practised by its 
author, and to such a person no more needs be said on the subject. 
Here he will perceive the delineation of an immense tree, by name "the 
Woburn Beech,'' belonging to the Duke of Bedford, and growing at 
that place — a tree more than seventy feet in height, and pruned up to 
fifty from the ground, without a twig or a branch ; and yet this great 
sweeping brush is held forth as an example of perfect pruning, and such 
as is calculated to increase the value, as well as the weight of the wood ! 
See Forest Pruner, p. 150, et seq. 

Now, eminent as all men must acknowledge Pontey to be in 
experience as a nurseryman and a planter, and that he has brought out 
a work in which much useful knowledge and practical skill are dis- 
played, yet it is a curious fact, that he seems not to have been much 
acquainted with vegetable physiology and the anatomy of plants, and, 
by consequence, with the double current of the sap in trees. Whoever 
attentively examines his treatise, (and especially from p. 48 to 58, and 
p. 150, et seq.,) will perceive that he believed that the sap in trees 
" ascends in the bark ; " that the main ofiice of the branches is " to 
produce and maintain a certain quantity of leaves ; " and that the 
business of the leaves is "to attract the sap upwards ! " (Pp. 155, 156.) 
If such be the principles of science on which this system of pruning is 
founded, there is little wonder that it should prove erroneous when 
applied to practice. What should we think, in the present day, of a 
scientific agriculturist who was unacquainted with the chemical affini- 
ties ? or of an astronomer who assumed, as the basis of a new system, 
that the sun and planets moved round the earth ? Yet it is singular 



SECTION IV. 



409 



that the ingenious author of the Enclycopaedia of Gardening (himself a 
skilful phytologist) is almost the only writer of note who has ven- 
tured to cast a doubt on this rash system of pruning, or to observe 
the vast difficulty and delicacy that attends so scientific an operation. 

" The great importance," says he, " of the leaves of trees must never be 
lost sight of. In attending to these instructions, their use is not, as Pontey 
asserts, ' to attract the sap,' but to elaborate it, when propelled to them, 
and thus form the extract or food taken in by the plant into a fluid 
analogous to blood, and which is returned, so formed by the leaves, into 
the inner bark and soft wood. It must he a very nice point, therefore, to 
determine the quantity of branches or leaves that should he left on each 
tree ; and if no more are left than what are just necessary, then, in the 
case of accidents to them from insects, the progress of the tree will be 
doubly retarded. Experience alone can determine these things. Both 
Pontey and Sang agree, that ' strength is gained as effectually by a few 
branches to a head as by many.'" Encyclop. of Gardening, p. 582. It 
is true, Mr Loudon might not consider his multifarious work as a fit 
place for controversy : yet no one must know better than himself the 
utter fallacy of the opinion last mentioned, though propped by the 
name of another very meritorious nurseryman and planter. Sang ; and 
that it stands contradicted by the experience of our best phytologists, 
and our best planters, for more than a century back, from Grew and 
Miller, down to Boutcher, Knight, and Speedily. No good phytologist 
will doubt that it is according to sound science, as well as good practice, 
in woods planted for profi.t, and in a soil and climate which are natural 
to them, or below that standard, to cut away a small proportion of the 
weaker branches, and turn the current of the descending sap more 
abundantly into the stems. Such retrenchment, however, must always he 
modified by the actual wants of the trees, and the fair proportion which 
the size of the stem bears to the size and number of the boughs. But to 
say that " strength of stem is gained as effectually by a few branches 
to a head as by many," and that therefore many branches may be taken 
away, is to say, in effect, that strength is not diminished by diminishing 
the means of obtaining it — a contradiction in terms, wholly unworthy 
of any serious refutation. 

Perhaps there is no author of the present time who has written more 
judiciously on the effects produced on wood by means of culture, of 
which pruning necessarily forms an important part, than the ingenious 
author of the Encyclopaedia of Gardening : and I feel the more particu- 
lar satisfaction in appealing to him in this place, as I have above had 
occasion to differ from him on another point respecting wood. 

" It is remarkable," he observes, " that this subject has never specifi- 



410 



l^OTES AND ILLUSTEATIOITS. 



cally engaged the attention of those who have written on planting. 
The effects of culture on other vegetables is so great as always to 
change their appearance, and often in a considerable degree to alter 
their nature. The common culinary vegetables, and cultivated grasses, 
assume so different an appearance in our fields and gardens from what 
they do in a state of wild nature, that even a botanist might easily be 
deceived in regard to the species. The same general laws operate upon 
the wdiole kingdom of vegetables ; and thence it is plain that the 
effects of culture on trees, though different in degree, must be analogous 
in their nature, -^f * * 

"The general effects of pruning I have already stated to be of a 
corresponding nature with those of culture — that is, to increase the 
quantity of timber produce. The particular manner in which it does 
this is by directing the greater part of the sap, which generally spreads 
itself in side-branches, into the principal stem. This must consequently 
enlarge that stem in a more than ordinary degree, by increasing the 
annual circles of the wood. Now, if the tree be in a worse soil and 
climate than those which are natural to it, this will be of some advan- 
tage, as the extra increase of timber will still be of a quality not 
inferior to what would take place in its natural state ; or, in other 
words, it will correspond with that degree of quality and quantity 
of timber which the nature and species of the tree admit of being 
produced. If the tree be in its natural state, the annual increase 
of timber, occasioned by pruning, must necessarily injure its quality/ in 
a degree corresponding with the increased quantity. If the tree be in 
a better climate and soil than that which is natural to it, and at the 
same time the annual increase of wood be promoted by pruning, it is 
evident that such wood must be of a very different quality from that 
produced in its natural state, (that is, very inferior.) 

" Now, though it might be shown in some degree from vegetable 
anatomy, and analogy from what takes place in herbaceous vegetables, 
I prefer deducing from the facts already stated this proposition — that 
whatever tends to increase the wood in a greater degree than what is 
natural to the species when in its natural state, must injure the quality 
of the timber. Pruning tends to increase this in a considerable degree ; 
and therefore it must be a pernicious practice, in as far as it is used in 
these cases. In this section, I have not considered pruning in regard to 
eradicating diseases, preventing injuries, or increasing the natural cha- 
racter and tendency of trees. For those purposes it is of great advantage. 

" Mr Knight has shown in a very striking manner, that timber is 
produced, or rather that the alburnum or sap-wood is rendered ligneous 
by the motion of the tree, during the descent of the true or proper sap. 



SECTION IV. 



411 



It is also sufficiently known to all who have attended to the physiology 
of vegetables, and is greatly confirmed by some experiments recently 
laid before the Royal Society (Philosop. Trans. 1803-1804), that the 
solid texture of the wood greatly depends upon the quantity of sap 
which must necessarily descend, and also on the sloivness of its descent. 
Now, both these requisites are materially increased by side-branches, 
which retain a large quantity of sap, and by their junction with the 
stem occasion a contraction, and twisted direction of the vessels, which 
obstructs the progress of the (proper) juice. That this is true in fact, 
is well known to those accustomed to make wine from Maple or Birch 
trees ; for in this business it is found, that those trees which have 
fewest side-branches bleed more freely than the others, but during a 
much shorter space of time. These hints, therefore, afford additional 
evidence against pruning, and particularly against pruning Fir-trees, 
which, as Mr Knight justly observes, have larger vessels than the others; 
and therefore, when in an improved soil and climate, side-branches for 
the purposes above mentioned are essentially necessary to them, if solid, 
resinous, and durable timber be the object in view. 

From the foregoing remarks, I think the following conclusions may 
be drawn respecting the management of trees. 

" First, That trees should be planted as much as possible in soils, 
situations, and climates, analogous to tliose of their natural state; and 
that it is chiefly in this state, or where there are some defects relative to 
it, that pruning and culture can be exercised with advantage. 

" Secondly, That in proportion to the superiority of the soil, &c., in 
which trees are placed over the natural soil of those trees, in the 
same proportion pruning ought to be avoided, and thinning encouraged. 

" Thirdly, That particular regard should be had to the soil and 
situation where either Larches or any other of the Pine tribe are 
planted, to remain as the final crop ; for as the roots of these chiefly 
run along the surface, and as in them the great current of the sap is 
chiefly confined to one channel — that is, the trunk — consequently, that 
tribe of trees is peculiarly liable to injury and change when subjected 
to unnatural agency." — Improv. Count. Res. Vol. II. book i. p. 8. 

Nothing can be more ingenious than these speculations, or more 
physiologically just ; and I rejoice to see that the practice of the best 
planters is improving with the advancement of science. 

The practice of pruning, in respect to the objects to which it is 
applied, naturally divides itself into two parts — namely, the pruning of 
trees for ornament and for profit. In pruning for ornament, as in 
park-wood, the less the knife is employed the better, except it be to 
keep the tops properly balanced, or to displace some luxuriant shoot, 



412 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



that appears to rival the main or leading stem. In close plantations, 
consisting of grove and underwood intermixed, (supposing them to have 
Leen executed at proper distances,) the only object should be to pre- 
serve the spiral shape of the former, and the subordinate character of 
the latter, by timely retrenchment. If that be not effected, nature is 
prevented from generating such provisions as are indispensable to pre- 
serve the vigour of both. In both of the above cases the system of 
*' cutting in,'* or what I shall venture to call Terminal Pruning, will 
be found most consistent with science, and with successful practice. 

In pruning woods for profit, the task is more complicated, and con- 
sequently more difficult ; and the obtaining, as Pontey insists on, " the 
greatest weight of wood " is a material object, provided it be wood of 
ffood quality, which according to his system cannot always be produced. 
But experience has shown how miserably the means of attaining this 
object have been mistaken in Scotland, and still more in England, within 
the last twenty years. To call the lopping and hacking method a 
Scotch practice, (as some late writers have confidently done,) is nearly 
as absurd as to call the " General method of Planting Waste Lands," as 
practised in every part of Europe where the art of planting is known 
and cultivated, the " Scotch method ; " and it shows an extraordinary 
unacquaintance with the history of that art. Poor Scotland, indeed, 
labours diligently to follow John Bull in all his follies, as well as his 
improvements ; but it seems hard to make her responsible for practices 
which, whether good or bad, she unquestionably has derived from her 
neighbours of the south. It is a certain fact, that it is little more than 
a century since the arts of planting and gardening were generally cul- 
tivated in Scotland, and that they were, and are now, cultivated solely 
after the English methods : and it is as certain that, previously to the 
publication of Pontey 's treatise on pruning, which came out in 1806, 
the barbarous method of lopping trees, with a view to their improvement, 
was nearly unknown north of the Tweed. 

If planters could only be persuaded that, by means of lopping and 
pruning, they will not accelerate the growth of trees, it would be a great 
point gained ; and that, if woods he left to nature, they will advance 
even more rapidly than where the lopping system is adopted. The 
fact is, that no boughs should ever be removed larger than what the 
growth of the bark will, in two, or perhaps three years, fairly cover ; 
and even with such a precaution, the evil of knotty and unsound 
wood (which invariably attends the lopping method) will not altogether 
be remedied. If we inquire how nature, in woods of her own sowing, 
raises the cleanest and soundest timber of every species, we shall find that 
it is by displacing, early and gradually, the superfluous lateral branches. 



SECTION IV. 



413 



and thereby promoting elongation of stem. If we inquire how she 
produces the toughest and most durable wood, it will be seen that it is 
by exposure to a colder atmosphere than that in which such elongation 
of stem is generated. Let us, therefore, 'prune early, and thin gradually 
and frequently, after having first planted much more closely for profit- 
able than for ornamental purposes. Yet there is a closeness of colloca- 
tion, if I may so speak, in natural woods — that is, in woods raised for- 
tuitously from the seed — which the planter, for obvious reasons, will not 
venture to imitate. 

With these objects in view, it is pleasing to observe that the judicious 
system of " cutting in " is now adopted by many pruners of acknow- 
ledged reputation. This consists, when we displace side-branches, in 
cutting away at first a third part, or more, at the extremity, and 
retaining two-thirds, or even less — but we must defer the removal of the 
entire bough till the following, or even another season. Thus it is 
found, on the simplest principles of vegetable physiology, that the 
power of increasing in size, which the bough possessed, will by this 
process be sensibly diminished ; so that after a year or two, it may be 
entirely removed, with the least possible risk of injury to the quality of the 
wood. In the same way, if a terminal bud be removed, whether by 
intention or accident, a similar result will follow, although naturally in 
a lesser degree. According to this principle, which I have of late 
years adopted, I can show entire young plantations at this place which 
have been very rapidly and successfully pruned, and their progressive 
vigour wonderfully increased, by the removal of terminal shoots, and 
terminal buds only, as circumstances required ; aud the most effectual 
assistance has thus been given to nature, in the production of sound 
wood. 

Whoever was the author of this system of pruning, which I have 
ventured to name the Terminal, is entitled to praise ; and I am 
inclined to think that, if it ever have been known in horticulture, it 
has not been applied to woods till of late years, and even now, that it is 
not commonly so applied. The Encyclopaedias of Gardening and 
Agriculture, in which every thing useful and scientific is generally to 
be found, but very obscurely allude to such an operation. 

There is a meritorious nurseryman in this kingdom to whom I was, 
some time since, indebted for the knovrledge of this system, and who 
has practised it, as he states to me, for nearly thirty years, without hav- 
ing borrowed it from any one. It was first suggested to him, as it 
appears, by his own reflection, and has since been confirmed by con- 
siderable experience and most uniform success. He was surprised 
when I informed him that the principle was known and acted on, in 



414 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



some parts of England, with great effect. This person, who is not less 
unassuming than he is ingenious, is possessed of valuable materials for 
a treatise on the subject ; by which, besides laying down specific rules 
for the art under different circumstances, directions might be given for 
raising and managing plantations under this system. According to the 
author's opinion, the pruning should be practised as early as the third 
year after the plantations are made, and be continued till the eight- 
eenth or twentieth. He has likewise constructed tables, showing the 
number and distances according to which the trees should be planted on 
an acre of ground, and the comparative results of the ordinary and of 
the terminal method. In the present low state of our arboricultural 
knowledge, I am of opinion that a present more acceptable than such 
a treatise could not be made to the British public. 

I request forgiveness of the reader for this long discussion, which 
has altogether transcended the bounds of a note, and swelled to a sort 
of disquisition. But, independently of my own observations on the 
above interesting subject, I was desirous to give as much publicity as 
possible to Mr Loudon's ingenious speculations, and to the Terminal 
Method of Pkuning, which promises to be productive of such general 
utility. 

Note VI. Page 99. 

It gives me great satisfaction to find that the opinions here held, 
respecting the character of the ramification on the warmer and the 
colder sides of trees, are supported by those of a scientific planter, and 
ingenious observer, the late Lord Meadowbank, whose important dis- 
covery of the method of decompounding peat, by means of animal 
manure, is so well known to the agriculturist. To a pamphlet printed 
in Edinburgh in 1815, in which the theory last mentioned is clearly 
given, there is annexed a small tract, entitled " Instructions to 
Foresters," in which he states as follows : — " If trees are vexed by the 
winds of an exposed situation, but not destroyed by them, their lateral 
shoots towards the exposed point are shortened, and the branches mul- 
tiplied ; and a similar appearance may be expected at the tops of lofty 
trees, however naturally vigorous, which have reached an unsheltered 
situation, where the winds sweep along the upper surface of the forest 
without interruption. These winds must prove unfavourable to the 
quiet deposition of prepared sap, on which growth must in some degree 
depend ; but of course, the surplus sap will be employed by the plastic 
powers of most trees in multiplying buds and branches, which, how- 
ever, must be comparatively short and crowded together. And accord- 
ing to the wise economy of nature, as very often happens, there is 



SECTION IV. 



415 



great reason to think, that the thick clothing of leaves and branches 
thus provided for the tops of trees, and for their exposed sides, is of 
great importance to their health and preservation." — Page 56. 

Note VII. Page 102. 

I have now practised this method for so many years, that it comes to 
he pretty generally known in different districts of the kingdom. In 
Perthshire, Forfarshire, Berwickshire especially, I have found it pretty 
prevalent, chiefly through the communications of my worthy friend Mr 
Thomas White, the celebrated landscape-gardener, and his father of the 
same name ; and in other districts, as I am informed, it is familiar to 
planters, who are utterly ignorant of the source from whence it 
originated. On inquiring lately of a Perthshire gentlemen, what benefit 
he promised himself from the practice of reversing the position of his 
trees on removal — he candidly replied, " that he knew no benefit at 
all that could be derived from it ; but, understanding that it was the 
fashion of the day, he followed it implicitly, as he followed other fashions, 
without thinking it necessary to inquire about the matter." Now this 
gentleman is a person of large property, and an extensive planter, 
which sufficiently shows tJie state of our general intelligence on the subject 
of wood, and how important it is, if fashion must regulate the business, 
that the fashion should be founded on some principles of science. 

Some little time since, I was applied to for advice, by a gentleman 
whose place lies on the west coast, and whose park descends in a gradual 
slope to the margin of the Atlantic. In this situation his trees are 
severely exposed to the western and south-western gales, which, though 
mitigated in some sort by the screen of Ireland, occasion his single and 
detached trees to lean in a remarkable manner to the east and north- 
east, and become objects of deformity rather than beauty. This, he 
said, was the case with the whole of them that had not been thinned out 
from old grove-wood, and which for a considerable time had had the 
benefit of shelter. 

I advised him, in all prominent or favourite situations, in the vicinity 
of the mansion-house, of approaches, or the like, (where the trees were 
otherwise of fine figure, and of no very great size — that is, not exceed- 
ing from six to eight feet in girth,) to loosen them in the ground, as if 
for removal, according to the method practised here ; raising the ball 
or mass of earth round the stem, and with it the turf unbroken, nine 
feet out from the stem at the least ; and endeavouring, beyond that 
distance, for seven or eight feet more, (according to circumstances,) to 
preserve the whole of the roots, if possible, and especially the minute 



416 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



fibres entire, in extricating them from the ground. In this way, in 
good rooting-ground, he would have roots sixteen or seventeen feet long 
of a side. As soon as the tree was pulled down, and that the depth or 
thickness of the mass or ball of earth could be ascertained, I further 
advised that the bottom of it should be worked as flat as possible, even 
should some downward or perpendicular shoots suffer in the operation ; 
when, if there were the slightest declivity in the ground, (as generally 
happens towards the exposed side,) the ball or mass might be wheeled 
round on its bottom the entire circle, and thus the position of the branches 
be completely reversed. 

During this process, it is to be observed, that the most favourable 
opportunity would be aflforded, supposing the land to be of a shallow 
description, to extend the pabulum of the tree by the introduction of 
fresh mould, and suitable compost, during the replanting. No lighten- 
ing or mutilating of the top or lateral branches would here be necessary; 
because the person directing the work would necessarily take care to 
ascertain, before its commencement, the proper extent of the excavation 
and the due length of the roots and fibres, so as to proportion the roots 
to the wants of the top. Were this process conducted with tolerable 
judgment, and according to the directions given in the present treatise, 
I ventured to promise the owner, and I think not rashly, that with 
expert workmen, and at the expense of from 15s. to 20s. per tree, he 
might substitute a very handsome for a very unsightly object. In a 
few years, likewise, it would happen that the tree would be beautifully 
balanced, by an extension of its branches on the deficient side, now 
turned to leeward, without any loss of the powers of development in 
either its branches or its roots. 

I think it worth while to state the above, as being in a great measure 
a remedy for that for which no remedy seems as yet to have been dis- 
covered, and which is an evil of considerable magnitude to persons so 
circumstanced. No one, of course, will suppose that it is meant to 
recommend the reversing or wheeling round of ill-balanced trees in 
ordinary circumstances ; because, where the exposure is not excessive, 
and the two angles formed by trees with the ground, on the sheltered 
and the windward sides, are not extremely diff*erent, judicious pruning 
may certainly cure every deformity of top. But in any case, much 
will depend on the judgment displayed in the execution. 

Note VIII. Page 103. 

The notion that trees, whether young or old, suffer greatly on removal, 
if not replanted in the same exposure, and also in the same position, 



SECTION IV. 



417 



according to the points of the compass, in which they previously stood, 
appears to be a prejudice of great antiquity. Theophrastus, the only 
writer in ancient times deserving the name of a phytologist, gravely 
states the opinion, and gives his reasons for entertaining it — namely, 
the power which habit exerts over all plants, and their inability to 
resist the elements (see JJepl ^vtcov 'laroplas, lib. ii. 7, and Hepi ^vtoov 
''AtTLcov, lib. iii. 6.) In all this he is accurately copied by the Geoponic 
writers, as may be seen by the quotation from Anatolius (Sect. II. Note 
VII. ante,) also by Cato, Columella, Palladius, and others. The 
mode prescribed by the whole of them is, to mark the trees, before being 
taken up, with white, or other colours, so that the sides which faced 
the north or south, &c., may be regularly turned again to the same 
quarters. Pliny, though usually not slow in retailing the fables or the 
prejudices of others, is the only ancient writer who treats the doctrine 
with indifference or contempt, (see Hist. Nat. lib. xvii. 2.) Virgil, like 
those who went before him, describes the same process of marking the 
south and north sides of trees, but he describes it like a poet : 

" Quin etiam coeli regionem in cortice signant ,* 
Ut quo quseque modo steterit, qua pai-te calores 
Austrinos tulerit, quae terga obverterit axi, 
Restituant : aded in teneris consuescere multum est." 

Georg. lib. ii. 296. 

It is not to be supposed that, among the phytologists of the seventeenth 
century, there would be any dissenting voices against such ancient autho- 
rities. Wise, Austen, Cooke, and all our other early arboriculturists, 
advocate the same system. Even the father of English planting, the 
respectable Evelyn, who united practice to theory, is so convinced of its 
soundness, that he is regularly angry with Pliny for treating it with 
contempt. " The southern parts of trees," he says, " being on a sudden 
turned to the north, does starve and destroy more trees, how care- 
ful soever men may have been in ordering their roots, and preparing 
the ground, than any other accident whatsoever — neglect of staking, 
{i. e. propping,) and defending from cattle excepted. . . . V^hich 
monition, though Pliny and some others think good to neglect, or 
esteem indifferent, I can confirm from frequent losses of my own, and 
particular trials, having sometimes transplanted great trees at mid- 
summer with success, and miscarried in others, where the circumstance 
of aspect only was omitted." — Silva^ vol. i. pp. 98, 99. But it may be 
observed, that unless these great trees were Fir-trees, or other ever- 
greens, this worthy man should have reflected, that the extraordinary 
season he selected for the work (a season which, on other occasions, he 

2 D 



418 



NOTES AND ILLUSTKATTONS. 



himself is far from recommending) suggested good ground for mis- 
carriage, without having recourse to imaginary causes.' 

There is no writer, ancient or modern, who ever had more science, 
and more practical skill united, than Miller, in the cultivation of wood ; 
and he distinctly states that, from repeated trials, "he could not 
observe the least difference in the growth of those trees which were so 
placed (that is, as they had previously stood) and others which had 
been reversed," — See Gardener' s and Botanisfs Diet, in voce "Planting." 
A few of the later phytologists support the same opinion, in which long 
-experience obliges me to coincide ; although I am surprised to observe, 
that modern writers of some name are not wanting to perpetuate the 
prejudice. 

Note IX. Page 103. 

Although I have never, in my own practice, made an exception to 
this rule, yet were I to make any, it would be respecting the small 
terminal shoots of trees, which certainly might be retrenched without 
injury, and perhaps with advantage. In a communication with which 
I was honoured from the illustrious president of the Horticultural 
Society of London, Mr Knight, after approving generally of my theory 
^s to the preservative principle, he has the following valuable remarks : — 

"I have only one suggestion to offer for your consideration. All 
trees have, I think, after they arrive at the age of puberty, generally 
more slender shoots at the extremities of the branches (which slender 
shoots are intended to bear blossoms) than are beneficial to the tree 
itself ; and if the number of these were reduced in the transplanted 
tree, it would still expose as much foliage to the light as if many more 
such slender shoots remained, while the expenditure of sap in forming 
shaded, and therefore useless foliage, would be saved, I have trans- 
planted fruit-trees of different kinds of a large size, without shortening 
their large branches, and I have always found much advantage in 
diminishing considerably the number of their slender terminal shoots." 



SECTION V. 



Note I. Page 121. 

The important principle here touched upon is not so fully illus- 
trated as it might have been. If the reader have attentively considered, 
first, the principles promulgated, and next their development and 
application in the selection of subjects, the conclusions which he should 
arrive at will necessarily follow. In the words of the text, " He may 
rest assured, in this case, that his success or miscarriage will be in the 
precise ratio in which his subjects may have obtained the protecting 
properties. If fully obtained, the progress of the trees will be visible 
from the beginning ; but if imperfectly, their progress will be retarded 
until the deficiency be made up." Yet, as the errors most commonly 
committed by planters, and the ill success that attends them, usually 
result from an improper selection of subjects, I shall say a few words 
upon it here, by way of practical commentary. 

Nineteen times in twenty, or, much more probably, ninety-nine times 
in a hundred, planters who remove large trees select their subjects 
injudiciously. Perhaps, more correctly speaking, they make no selection 
at ally according to sluj preconceived principle, or rule of choice. 
Supposing a man carefully to take up and plant a tree so selected, 
which has tolerable roots, it necessarily follows that it must have 
tolerable branches. But it may happen, from the circumstances in 
which it has been placed, that it is deficient in stoutness of stem, and, 
what is still worse, it may have no proper thickness and induration of 
bark to protect the sap-vessels. We shall further suppose, that he has 
only cursorily perused the foregoing pages ; and without altogether 
denying the correctness of the principles laid down, (because no man, 
attentively viewing natural causes and effects, can deny them,) he con- 
siders this as a pretty fair experiment of the efficacy of the preservative 
system. 

What, then, happens 1 The roots being not extensive, and the stem 
slender, it is soon discovered, that without propping the tree cannot 
stand. This is thought very strange, indeed, in the new system, which 



420 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



professes to discard all such unsightlj^ appliances. We will next sup- 
pose, that the props are applied with due diligence and success for two 
or three years ; and meanwhile, that the roots and fibres, being com- 
paratively undisturbed, extend under ground for five or six years more. 
As to the branches, few or none having decayed in the beginning, the 
tree, by the second year, has probably carried a good leaf, but has made 
no shoots of any sort. 

Now this tree, as it is not in possession of all the protecting pro- 
perties, can develop those which it possesses only in an inferior degree, 
therefore " its progress must be retarded (as the text has it) until the 
deficiency be made up." If it chance to be in a situation relatively 
sheltered, and in a favourable soil, it will, after five or six years more 
in this climate, begin to obtain the proper stoutness of stem, and thick- 
ness of bark, which it should have had in the beginning : but if the 
exposure be great, whatever be the soil, ten or twelve years still may 
elapse ere " the deficiency be made up." Thus, in the last mentioned 
case, (which is by far the more common of the two,) after about eighteen 
or twenty years, the tree, having struggled under the unnatural circum- 
stances of cold and exposure to generate provisions which warmth and 
shelter, in the previous plantation, or transplanting nursery, would 
have speedily conferred on it, at length surmounts the evils incident to 
injudicious selection, and begins to shoot forth with proper vigour. 
Such at least is its progress in the climate of Scotland. 

This is no exaggerated picture, but a plain statement of facts, such 
as always occur when the laws of nature are disregarded, and the 
development of the properties she confers are checked in their progress. 
The above illustration of the doctrine set forth in the text, that " we 
must wait till the deficiency be made up," is given on the supposition 
that the tree has tolerable roots and branches, but is without the other 
prerequisites. But on a supposition that the tree possessed the other 
protecting properties, and that roots or branches were deficient, there 
would be a corresponding result ; and no vigorous progress could in the 
same way be expected from the plant, until the deficiency were made 
np in like manner. 



SECTION VI. 



Note I. Page 130. 

According to Bergman, the soil best adapted to culture consists of 
4-lOtlis of clay, 3-lOtlis sand, 2-lOths calcareous earths, and 1-lOth 
magnesia. Fourcroy and Hassenfratz found 9216 parts of fertile, soil 
to contain 305 parts of carbon, together with 27 9 parts of oil — of which, 
according to the calculations of Lavoisier, 220 parts may be considered 
as carbon ; so that the whole of the carbon contained in the oil may be 
estimated at nearly 525 parts, not reckoning the roots of vegetables, or 
about l-16th part of its weight. Young, a scientific agriculturist, 
observed, that equal weights of different soils, when dried and reduced 
to powder, yielded by distillation quantities of air in some measure 
corresponding with the ratio of the values. The air was a mixture of 
fixed and inflammable air, proceeding probably from the decomposition 
of the water, but partly also, as may be supposed, from its power of 
abstracting a quantity of air from the atmosphere, which the soil is 
likewise capable of doing. 

One of the most favourable soils in England for the production of 
fine wood, is said to be Sheffield-place, the seat of Lord Sheffield. 
" What is most remarkable (as Pontey observes) is, that the Oak and 
the Larch flourish equally upon it ; though it would seem too light for 
the former, and too stiff for the latter." — Profitable Planter^ p. 106. In 
order to ascertain the constituent parts of a soil so celebrated for the 
production of timber, Sir Humphrey Davy submitted one hundred parts 
of the entire soil to analysis, of which the following was the result : — 



Water ...... 3 

Silex 64 

Alumine . . . . . .28 

Carbonate of Lime ..... 8 

Oxide of Iron ..... 5 

Decomposing Vegetable matter ... 4 

Loss . . , . . . 3 



100 parts. 



422 



NOTES AND ILLUSTEATIONS. 



This, no doubt, is a very favourable state of component parts ; altbough 
we might liave expected a greater proportion of decomposing vegetable 
matter, and perhaps of carbonate of lime. Considerable depth may be 
supposed to exist above the substratum, which it is surprising that 
Pontey should have omitted to mention. In as far as the growth of 
timber is concerned, any account may be considered as very imperfect 
without a specification of it. 

Note II. Page 131. 

The ancients, although they knew little of the history and properties, 
and still less of the anatomy and internal structure of plants, were yet 
sufficiently conversant with arboriculture as an art of practice, and 
particularly, they removed large trees with as great success as any of 
our planters of the present day. Accordingly, we find that many of the 
best rules and maxims in our books on planting are taken from their 
writings. A more judicious one there cannot be than that here men- 
tioned in the text, namely, always to give to a transplanted tree a soil 
better than what it had before removal. Columella says, Prudentis 
coloni est, ex deteriori terra potius inmeliorem, qudm ex meliore in deteri- 
orem, transfer re. — De Re Rust. lib. iii. 5. Pliny delivers the same 
maxim, but seems to consider similarity of soil as more important to be 
studied even than superiority for the new site ; in which, however, he 
is not borne out by experience. Ante omnia, in similem transferri 
terrain, aut meliorem oportet : nec e tepidis aut prcBcocihus, in frigidos 
aut serotinos situs, ut neque ex his in illos. — Hist. Natur. lib. xvii. ii. 
See also Theophrast, Ilept ^urwy 'icrTopias. lib. ii. 7. 

Note III. Page 140. 

Were I called upon to name the person to whom the farmer, in most 
districts of Scotland, and in many of England, is under the greatest 
obligations, I should certainly name the late Lord Meadowbank. The 
arboriculturist in both countries must also rank him among his best 
benefactors. In ancient times, such a person might very possibly have 
been deified ; at all events, a statue would have been erected to the 
memory of the man, who instructed his countrymen in the art of at 
once doubling and tripling the whole mass of their farm manure, by a very 
simple and certain process. In modern days, likewise, we erect statues, 
but it is not for achievements of this useful species. 

It is now more than twenty years since Lord Meadowbank com- 
municated his discovery to the public, in a small pamphlet, entitled 



SECTION VI. 



423 



" Directions for Preparing Manure from Peat but I do not know 
whether much improvement has since been made in the art of ferment- 
ing that substance. The general complaint is, that it is nearly incap- 
able of being decomposed by the small quantity of animal manure 
which Lord Meadowbank prescribes, that is, a third or fourth part ; and 
indeed, that it cannot be decomposed at all, or reduced to the state of a 
fine dark-coloured mould, in which neither peat nor dung is discernible. 

.Having paid as much attention as most persons to this process, for 
several years back, for both arboricultural and agricultural purposes, I 
am satisfied that the want of success, so generally experienced, is owing 
to two causes chiefly ; first, the too moist condition of the peat, when it 
is made up ; and secondly, the exhausted state of the dung employed 
in the fermentation ; both of which, as stated in the text, prevent the 
antiseptic quality of the moss from being counteracted, and the peat 
from being rendered soluble. 

As to the first point, the moist state of the peat, it seems clear, as Lord 
Meadowbank has observed, that although no active fermentation can 
take place without moisture, yet moisture may super ahoimd ; and 
therefore, it is necessary to wheel out the peat some weeks beforehand 
from the pit, in order that the superfluity may be expelled by exposure 
to the atmosphere. In this state, however, I have seldom found that I 
could, by even thrice fermenting the mass, eff'ectually decompose the 
peat, and thereby reduce it to a friable mould. In order to remedy this^ 
I have successfully practised the following method of procuring peat- 
moss of superior quality ; which, as it has succeeded with myself, I 
shall shortly communicate, in the hope that it may prove of the same 
use to others. 

Whoever has the command of this valuable substance, must be aware 
that, when dug out for fuel, it is done in sections or banks from four to 
six feet deep ; where, after throwing back the upper strata on the 
spread-field, (as it is called,) the peat is set out to dry. These masses 
of the superincumbent strata, after some years' work naturally extend, 
and soon cover the field to a considerable depth. They accumulate 
here and there in irregular mounds ; and being exposed to the elements, 
and particularly to frost, they^gradually advance in decomposition, and 
assume the appearance of a black mould, sometimes of a foot and 
eighteen inches deep. In this desirable state it is to be driven away,^ 
and thrown up in heaps, for the purpose of fermentation ; a process, 
which it is thus prepared to undergo at once, and with the one-half of the 
difficulty that attends the pure peat, as prescribed by Lord Meadowbank. 

Besides this improvement, a great saving is made in dung and labour 
— the one-half of the dung only being required to excite fermentation, 



424 



NOTES AND ILLUSTEATIONS. 



and less than the one-half of the labour to turn the heaps. If the fuel 
be cut down to the clay in a regular manner, as should always be 
done, or if the spread-field in summer can be turned up with the 
plough, a considerable improvement may be made in procuring a 
greater mass of materials, and also in exposing a larger surface to the 
action of the atmosphere, and preparing it for future use. With such 
materials, I have found that fermented moss-compost may not only be 
prepared more perfectly than by the former method, but at nearly/ one- 
half of the expense. 

In respect to the second point, the exhausted state of the dung 
before being applied. There is nothing more common, than to take 
dung for this sort of compost from the great mass accumulated for 
months in the farm-yard, and never stirred, excepting for the spring or 
fallow crops. But for this purpose, dung, supposing it to be the joint 
produce of horses and cattle equally, should be regularly carried out, 
and applied to the compost-heaps, once a fortnight or three weeks at the 
least. Thus it will be applied before much disposition to fermentation 
comes on ; after which it is plain that all animal manure becomes 
nearly effete, and loses the greater part of its value. In order that the 
fresh manure may be applied with the greatest effect, sufficient masses 
or heaps of peat-moss must always be in readiness ; and should it 
happen to be.late in the season — that is, after the month of October — it 
will be necessary to cover them as soon as mixed up, with straw, rushes, 
shows, or such other substance as will prevent the escape of the heat. 
"Were a farmer or planter, who has the command of peat-moss at a 
reasonable distance, diligently to proceed in this manner, it is no exag- 
geration to say that he would annually double, or more probably triple, 
the amount of his disposable manure. 

The preparing of moss-compost with lime in a proper manner, so as 
really to decompose the peat, and preserve the qualities of the lime, is a 
process which is not generally understood. The common way is to 
mix, in nearly equal portions, lime newly calcined {Scot, lime-shells) 
and peat-moss ; by which means, heat being disengaged in far too great 
proportion, and the lime suddenly slaked by the moisture of the moss, 
the heat becomes so violent as to reduce the peat to charcoal, to dis- 
sipate in a gaseous state all its component parts — excepting only the 
ashes, part of the carbonaceous matter, and the fixed air absorbed by the 
lime. Thus the lime is rendered nearly powerless, as mentioned in the 
text, and brought back to the state of mere chalk, instead of forming 
such a combination with the peat, and the gas generated in the process, 
as, on being applied to the soil, will promote the growth of plants. 
The late ingenious Lord Dundonald, our earliest writer on agricultural 



SECTION VI. 



425 



chemistry, was the first person who taught the method of preparing this 
valuable compost, both cheaply and scientifically, in his useful work on 
" The Connexion of Chemistry with Agriculture." From his residence 
at one time in the higher districts of Lanarkshire, where peat-moss 
abounds, he had a better opportunity than most of our chemists of 
attending to its effects. I shall therefore give his directions, which are 
taken from real practice, in his own words. Lime-compost, he observes, 
is prepared " by mixing newly made and completely slaked lime 
with about five or six times its weight of peat, which should be moder- 
ately humid, and not in too dry a state. In this case the heat gene- 
rated will be moderate, and never sufficient to convert the peat into 
carbonaceous matter, or to throw off, in a state of fixable air, the acids 
therein contained. The gases thus generated will be inflammable and 
phlogisticated air, forming volatile alkali, which will combine, as it is 
formed, with the oxygenated part of the peat that remains unacted on 
by the lime, applied for this especial purpose in a small proportion. By 
this mode of conducting the process a soluble saline matter will be 
procured, consisting of phosphat and oxalat of ammoniac, whose bene- 
ficial effects on vegetation are already well known to the agriculturist." 
—Pp. 109, 110. 

It appears, from what has been said above, that an ignorance of the 
true nature of these ingredients has probably disappointed the farmer, 
not less than the planter, in the application of this excellent compound ; 
which I can particularly recommend, either for a top-dressing for grass 
grounds, or a valuable compost for the roots of trees. The proportion 
of the lime to the peat-moss here given should be carefully observed ; 
and it would be a great improvement, in order to ensure its full effect, 
were the preparation to be made under cover, in a shed or outhouse 
dedicated to the purpose — because a superabundance of rain, or too 
great an exposure to the air, will prevent a due action of the lime upon 
the peat. As is truly remarked by the ingenious nobleman above 
referred to, the success of most operations, but more especially those of 
a chemical nature, greatly depends on a sedulous observance of cir- 
cumstances seemingly trivial ; and it is by the neglect of these that 
the most important objects dependent on them are generally defeated.* 

I believe there are many gentlemen good planters, but ardent agri- 
culturists, who, in perusing this essay, and perceiving what science 
might accomplish towards the improvement of their parks, by means of 

* It is to be vmderstood that, in order to succeed in decomposing peat by 
means of lime, the peat must be taken from an old spread-field, in the same 
way as is dnected for dung-compost at page 423, last paragraph. 



426 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



the transplanting machine, might yet be deterred from a due prepara- 
tion of the soil by the seeming quantity of manure that is prescribed 
for it. But here is a noble and valuable compound, adapted to all soils 
and climates, and which may be applied at a very small expense, with- 
out encroaching on the stercoraceous collections of their farm-yards. 
There are comparatively few situations in this kingdom in which peat- 
moss of tolerable quality is unattainable on account of distance* — and 
it is fortunate that it is so, because we know no given substance that 
could supply its place. In many districts (as is seen in the present 
section) it costs, when made up with lime, according to the above- 
mentioned method, not more than 6d. per cart-load ; and there are 
others in which it may be had at a still smaller cost. But much depends 
on the skill and attention that are bestowed on making it up. 

Note IV. Page 143. 

I conceive that I have made a considerable improvement on the 
ordinary method of trenching or double- digging of ground, whether for 
horticultural or arboricultural purposes. Common gardeners' trenching 
is often a mere turning up and turning down of the soil, in regular 
strata, without effecting any pulverisation or comminution of the parts ; 
and although it deepens, it generally does nothing more, especially when 
the trenching is done on grass-grounds. The method which I have 
practised with great effect, for twenty years, I can much recommend to 
others. 

In trenching eighteen inches deep, (and any thing less is of little use,) 
instead of keeping the bottom of the trench eighteen inches wide — or, as 
it is generally done, only a foot — I would have it kept two feet wide ; 
and instead of executing the two spits deep successively, with a regular 
shovelling after each, I would have three spits executed without any 
shovelling^ but with a good Scotch spade, (as it is called,) of which the 
mouth is at least ten inches in length. The solid side of the trench is 
of course cut perpendicularly ; but the loose side or face of the work 
should be kept at a slope of not less than an angle of fifty or sixty 

* "In two-thirds of all the land in Scotland, (says an intelHgent writer,) 
moss sufficient for making compost may be found within a mile. Unless it be 
in some parts of the counties of Edinburgh and Haddiugton, there is scarce 
one farm in Scotland, south of the Forth, but can have moss within five miles; 
and not one farm in a thousand but may find it within three miles." — Alton 8 
Treatise on Moss-Eartli, p. 174. 



SECTION yi. 



427 



degrees, in such a way, as that in throwing on the contents, the surface 
mould may crumble down, and in some sort mix with the entire mass 
excavated. When I thought of this method twenty years ago, the 
workmen objected to the execution of three spits deep, at the ssime price 
per fall (^Anglice, pole) as has been paid for two spits. But on per- 
suading them to try, they discovered that, instead of being more, it was 
less laborious than the two spits with the two shovellings ; and thus, 
after a little practice, I was enabled to add another inch, and sometimes 
two, to the depth of the work, for the same expense, and likewise to 
obtain a far greater comminution of the parts. Since that time we 
never trench according to any other method here ; and the benefit 
resulting from it has induced others to adopt the practice. In the 
" Encyclopedia of Gardening," (§ 236,) there is an excellent style of 
trenching described for mixing soils, but on too extensive a scale for 
any thing but horticultural purposes of the most expensive sort. 



The trenching or deepening of ground is a practice of first-rate 
importance in Arboriculture, whether to trees during infancy in the 
nursery-ground, or after they have attained a more advanced age. In 
the present section, the benefit attending it has been so particularly 
insisted on, that no more could be necessary to be said upon the sub- 
ject in this place, had not the public attention been particularly 
turned to it by a late writer, Mr William Withers, junior, of Holt, 
Norfolk. 

This gentleman has lately published two pamphlets on the practice 
in question, the object of which is to show, that by trenching the 
ground previously to planting, and then keeping it clean for some 
years afterwards, greater progress will be made by wood of every 
sort, and consequently a greater return to the planter in ten or twelve 
years, than in five-and-twenty and thirty by the common method. 
The system is not new, having been well known in England for more 
than two centuries : yet the author, in the first pamphlet, makes out his 
statements in a manner so clear and satisfactory as to excite consider- 
able interest ; and as ingenious experiment is his forte, and not scien- 
tific inquiry, he corroborates the whole by an animated and confident 
appeal to his own practice. By all impartial persons who are 
acquainted with the subject, the account given by Mr Withers of his 
operations will be admitted to be extremely candid ; and I agree with 
Mr Cobbett (See Reg. Nov. 1825,) that it is " neat, plain, unassuming, 
and full of interest." 



428 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



The fact is, that the practice of trenching and manuring land for 
plantations, (as may be seen in section VII. of the present work,) had 
considerably attracted my own attention, about forty years ago. I have 
since made many comparative and pretty extensive trials of the deepen- 
ing and the common method, which led to the same results as those 
stated by Mr Withers ; and had not that gentleman brought forth his 
first pamphlet when he did, I probably should, ere now, have drawn up 
a similar tract myself, for the purpose of illustrating, to a certain 
extent, a similar practice.* 

The principle of deepening and pulverising soils, to forward the 
growth of trees, is, as already said, far from being new. It is a mode 
of culture w^hich was well known to the ancients. It was fully recog- 
nised and acted on in the days of Evelyn and Cooke; and it has, 
since their time, been familiar to every well-instructed gardener and 
nurseryman in the United Kingdom, down to the present period. The 
main use, therefore, of Mr Withers' pamphlet, is to show its superior 
advantages, and give it a more extensive application. Why it has so 
seldom been applied by landowners beyond the kitchen-garden and the 
shrubbery seems very surprising, since the slightest trial is sufficient to 
convince any gentleman, that plantations made on any land susceptible 
of culture may in this way certainly be more speedily raised, and pro- 
bably more cheaply, than by any other method. The scientific prin- 
ciples on which the process should be conducted, and my anxiety to 
impress them on the minds of planters, are sufficiently show^n in the 
present Section and Notes, whether for arboricultural or agricultural 
purposes, to which Mr Withers' able pamphlet may serve as a practical 
commentary. The most material point on which he has gone wrong, is 
the application of fresh-made dung, or " muck," to the roots of woody 
plants, which, on considering what I have stated, he will readily per- 
ceive to be both phytologically and chemically erroneous ; and that the 
intervention of a green-crop, while it constitutes a superior practice, 
creates a vast saving of expense in executing the work. See Section VI. 
of my treatise (second edition) pp. 190, 200 ; also pp. 202 — 204, et seq. 

For all plantations in parks and pleasure-grounds, and even in many 
that are intended solely for profit, I highly approve of previous trench- 
ing and manuring, and keeping the ground clean with the hoe, but by 

* If Mr Withers will take the trouble to peruse the next note, namely, No, 
v., being the last of the present Section, and the text to which it refers, he will 
see that I have had some experience in the business of trenching, and that I 
have long had occasion to apply it to some striking objects of utility as well as 
ornament. 



SECTION YI. 



429 



no means digging it with the spade for a few years — that is, in situations 
where the nature of the ground will admit, and where sufficient manure 
for a green-crop can he procured. Having for many years successfully 
followed this method myself, I can with the greater confidence recom- 
mend it to others. But, from the very nature of the thing, it is evident 
that it cannot he adopted for General Planting, or ever come into 
universal use. All men, however, will admit that Mr Withers is 
entitled to great praise for so earnestly pressing it on the puhlic atten- 
tion. 

There is one thing, at which I have heen rather surprised, in Mr 
Withers' pamphlet, and which cannot be passed over without notice 
by any person of intelligence — and that is, his denominating the ordinary 
or pitting method of planting, as every where practised, without any 
previous deepening of the soil, " the Scotch system ;" and for no other 
alleged reason, that I can discover, on the most attentive perusal of his 
publication, than that some Scotch contractors had executed about forty 
acres of plantation for Admiral Windham according to this method, 
and that the thing had turned out " a total failure." 

It is certainly very candid in Mr Withers to inform us" that he knows 
nothing of Scotland or Ireland, and that his observations on wood, and 
his practice in raising it, are wholly confined to Norfolk. His pamphlet 
as clearly informs us that he, knows nothing of general planting, or of 
its history and progress in Britain and the rest of Europe ; and that the 
anatomy of plants and vegetable physiology have not come within the 
range of his studies. Now, in these circumstances, it would have been 
as well if he had not insisted on it, that the common and well-known 
style of executing general planting, in every country where it is known 
and cultivated, is peculiarly " the Scotch method because the English, 
Irish, French, German, or any other national epithet, would have 
equally designated the practice. The Germans have about a hundred 
writers on woods and forests, (double the number that Varro enume- 
rates in his time,) among whom M. Burgsdorf, Master-General of the 
Forests of Prussia, and M. Hartig, who held the same situation in the 
Principality of Solms, are the most celebrated. The French, in the 
same way, have nearly thirty authors on this subject, of whom MM. 
De Perthuis, Baudrillart, and Varenne-Fenille, are the latest and best. 
These, together with our own Evelyn and Cooke, Miller, Pontey, and 
Speechley, all treat of both the trenching and the pitting method ; but 
not one of them ever made the notable discovery which has been 
made by Mr Withers, that the latter is peculiarly the Scotch 
method. On the contrary, they all mention both systems as practised 
in their different countries, and practised in each under different circum- 



430 



NOTES AND ILLUSTEATIONS. 



stances, as it is in England.* Had some conceited .Scotch gardener, 
now fattening in that country, committed this " fundamental error" 
in a public statement, and on the title-page of a book, we should not 
have been so much surprised, and attributed it merely to ignorance ; 
but as it is, it certainly must appear very striking in a person of Mr 
Withers' education and intelligence. By a statement so often and so 
confidently repeated, uninformed readers are led to believe that, in the 
arboriculture of Scotland, there are some strange and peculiar modes of 
executing large designs of wood, quite different from those known in 
England, and which its gardeners (who every where abound) are desi- 
rous, from some unintelligible motive, to introduce into the latter coun- 
try. "Whereas the truth is, as I have more than once stated in the 
present work, that it is to the English alone that the Scotch are 
indebted for any knowledge they possess of the useful arts, and of that 
of planting among others ; that they are ambitious to practise, and do 
practise them, solel?/ after the English methods ; and if they ever 
venture on any improvements of their own, (which in this instance has 
not been the case,) that it is with becoming deference to such able 
instructors. It is therefore to be hoped that so judicious a writer as 
Mr Withers, when he next publishes on the same subject, will correct 
a statement which is unfounded in point of fact, and besides, rather 
savours of national prejudice — a feeling decidedly illiberal, and alto- 
gether out of fashion in the present day. 

The very favourable manner in which Mr Withers' first j)amphlet 
was received by the public was, of course, very gratifying to the author, 
and seems to have led him to assert the universal applicability of the 
trenching method. What was good for Norfolk, he naturally thought, 
could not well be bad for any other tract of country, w^hether the 
Highlands of Perthshire, or Yorkshire, or Connaught ; and that what- 
ever system of planting was calculated to produce (as Pontey expresses 
it) "the greatest weight of marketable wood," and to produce it soonest 
and cheapest, must necessarily be the best for all possible purposes, 
whether manufacturing, agricultural, or naval. Fully impressed with 

* M. De Pertlmis is of the opinion usually entertained in England, and also 
by Sir Walter Scott, that trenching with the spade is too expensive to be prac- 
tised by the landowner, unless for plantations intended for ornament near the 
mansion-house. On sent que le defoncement ne peut etre fait qvJa hras dliommes; 
et comme il occasiooine une grande defense au proprietaire, il ne peut gueres 
employer ce moyen, lorsque ses facultes pecuniaires le lui permettent, que dans les 
plantations destinies a la decoration de sa raaison. — P. 282. The French have 
likewise an odd way of cultivating plantations, en rayons, that is, in narrow 
strips for the trees, leaving the intervals uncultivated. 



SECTION VI. 



431 



this conviction, Mr Withers undertook to draw up a second pamphlet, 
more extensive than the first, chiefly, as it appears, with the view of 

ImPROITLNG the MANAGEMEiNT OF THE ROYAL FoRESTS, AND RAISING SUPE- 
RIOR Timber for the Navy. 

The object, it will on all hands be admitted, was highly laudable, 
and, could Mr Withers have accomplished it, was sufiicient to have 
placed him at the head of the arboriculturists of the present day. Of 
the method in which he has attempted this, (with the best intentions, as 
I truly believe,) there is room only for a very rapid and cursory exami- 
nation in this place ; and as I have been indirectly called upon for an 
opinion upon his method by his majesty's government, I shall give it 
candidly, and in the most concise manner I am able. 

It is well known to those who possess the best judgment, and the 
best opportunities of judging, that there are few departments under 
government which are managed with more diligence and ability than 
that of the " woods and forests." The noble lord, and the first commis- 
sioner, now at the head of that department, are both unremitting in 
their endeavours to put the affairs of the royal forests on the best foot- 
ing, and under the superintendence of men of the greatest skill and 
experience ; and the late improvements made, as I understand, are such 
as entitle them to the highest praise. On comparing these forests with 
the best-managed woods and plantations belonging to private indivi- 
duals, it will be found that the defects in either are far more to be 
attributed to the general neglect of the art of planting in Britain, and 
to the want of that useful assistance which might be afforded to it (as 
T have already observed) by agricultural chemistry, as well as phyto- 
logical science, than to any other cause. Whether Mr Withers' 
pathetic lamentations of the defective management of the royal forests, 
and " the shame and indignation" which he virtuously feels on that 
account, (p. 27,) proceed from an ignorance of these well-known facts, 
and an unacquaintance with the manner in which those forests ought to 
be managed ; or whether they are put forth ad captandmriy and for the 
purpose of catching that " gale of popularity," which every one in a 
free country is sure to obtain who makes an attack upon the govern- 
ment, I shall not take it upon me to determine ; but from the apparent 
sincerity and frankness of his whole manner and character, I should far 
rather attribute them to the former motives. 

Not long before the appearance of his second pamphlet — that is, in the 
end of last year — it so happened that the greatest writer of the age. Sir 
Walter Scott, (who to his other multifarious accomplishments adds con- 
siderable experience in the management of woods,) drew up an " Essay 
on the Planting of Waste Lands." It appeared in the seventy-second 



432 



NOTES AND ILLUSTEATIONS. 



number of the Quarterly Revieiv; and I must say that, as far as I am 
a judge, it is, independently of its other merits, one of the most powerful, 
judicious, and useful practical tracts existing in the language. Such is 
the essay, and such the author whom, in his second pamphlet, Mr 
Withers considers himself as quite able to put down ! From the sin- 
gularly rapid way in which the great author is known to write, and 
from the circumstance of his professing no accurate knowledge of phy- 
tology, it cannot seem wonderful that some errors both in the theory 
and the practice should have crept into the essay. But the celebrity 
of the illustrious person in question, and the fact of his belonging to 
this side of the Tweed, (which gave an additional colour to Mr Withers' 
misrepresentation as to the Scotch method,) added to Sir Walter's 
speaking rather slightingly of trenching, as a preparatory measure, 
seem to have induced Mr Withers to adopt a personal mode of address. 
The pamphlet, therefore, is thrown into the form of " A Letter to Sir 
Walter Scott, Bart., exposing certain Fundamental Errors in his late 
Essay on Planting Waste Lands, &c., the great loss and disappointment 
generally attending the Scotch Style of Planting," — cum multis aliis. 
Respecting the manner of this composition I shall say little, as 
plain and unassuming" are epithets which cannot be applied to it; 
and I shall say the less from being informed that the public in general, 
and the author's friends in particular, loudly condemned the w^hole 
style of address adopted ; and I entertain no doubt but that his own 
good sense will ere long induce him to condemn it himself. Mr Withers 
may rest assured, that neither the interests of learning, nor the advance- 
ment of science, among a polished nation, ever yet were promoted by a 
gratuitous departure from the rules of decorum and urbanity. But the 
matter is an object of far greater magnitude than the manner ; and as 
the former might, by possibility, have some weight with the Commis- 
sioners of Woods and Forests, I feel called upon to obviate, in as far 
as I can, the extensive injury which the principle contended for might 
occasion to the " future navies" of the empire. 

The first thing, then, that Mr Withers does, is of course to fasten 
with eagerness on some of those trivial errors which, as already said, 
appear in Sir Walter's powerful specimen of didactic writing, and to 
magnify them into defects of the most portentous species. This is just 
the sort of tactic that might have been expected. The next thing is, 
to fasten as eagerly on Mr William Billington — a good, plain, and 
commonplace person, who was some years since surveyor- general, 
under the authority of the Commissioners for planting the Forest of 
Dean. This worthy person is then completely shown up. His igno- 
rance, his arrogance, his weakness, his self-delusion, are all depicted in 



SECTION VI. 



433 



glowing colours ; and certain statements in his boolc,^ which, to say 
truth, are neither the most able nor the most luminous, are very 
adroitly turned against himself. In fact, they are made to prove that, 
by means of trenching, he might have executed the work much 
cheaper than by what is pertinaciously called " the Scotch system," 
and thus have gone over the entire eleven thousand acres of Dean 
Forest ! Flushed with this supposed advantage, Mr Withers forthwith 
returns to the charge against the great author. " Why, Sir Walter, 
(says he,) his opinions are more erroneous than yours, which is saying 
a great deal, and may be some comfort for you to know. * This 
surely beats every thing that was ever put into print !" (P. 40.) At 
last, he sums up his argument with great eloquence and energy. " If 
I were to cite all the authorities, urge all the arguments, and state all 
the facts which could be brought forward in support of my position, 
that trees planted on prepared land will grow faster, and come much 
sooner to maturity, than trees planted on * the Scotch System,' the 
present pamphlet would extend to as many volumes as your Life of 
Napoleon." (P. 64.) May I be permitted to observe, with great deference 
to Mr Withers, that indeed this does beat every thing that ever was put 
into print ! 

Having proved to his own satisfaction, and that of his friends, that 
the trenching system of planting is not only better but also much 
cheaper than the pitting system, (which he still persists in calling " the 
Scotch,") and the only one proper to be adopted by men of sense, the 
next point to be examined is : Is it a system of general application, as 
alleged by Mr Withers, and fitted for " the planting of waste lands," 
— the object of Sir Walter's able essay ? As I conceive, it certainly is 
not. The most judicious critics, and those most conversant with 
woods, (such as the editors of the "Gardener's" and the "British Farmer's 
Magazines,'') to have fully decided the point, in their reviews of Mr 
Withers' pamphlets. All experienced planters will agree with them in 
thinking that, in wild and mountainous regions, preparation must be 
out of the question ; or wherever it would be obstructed by rocks, bogs, 
inaccessible steeps, or unstable surfaces— all of which regions, being 
nearly useless, might at a moderate expense, and by the pitting method, 
be made eminently productive in wood. 

. But Mr Withers has a ready answer to this. Instead of an entire 

* "A Series of Facts, Hints, Observations, and Experiments on the different 
modes of raising Young Plantations of Oak, for Future Navies," &c. &c. By 
William Billington, Member of the Caled. Hort. Soc. Superintendent of Plant- 
ing 11,000 acres of land in the Forest of Dean, &c. London, 1825. 

2 E 



434 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



mountain or moor, take (says he) a few acres only of the best parts of 
such districts : if you cultivate them highly, they will cost no more 
expense than if you included the whole, and they will pay you sooner 
for your labour: " profit, mid profit alone, ought to be the object of 
the planter." (P. 74.) " Now, (saj^s Mr Loudon, one of the judicious 
critics just now alluded to,) every planter of general experience will 
differ on this point with Mr Withers. What we maintain is, that in 
Scotland and Ireland, and in many parts of the north of England and 
Wales, 1000 acres of wood of any sort confer moxQ value on an extensive 
territorial surface, than the most thriving plantation of a few acres, 
however profitable the latter might be wlien talen hy itself. In esti- 
mating the value of IMr Withers' system, therefore, it is necessary to 
take this view of the subject into consideration ; for a plantation may 
yield no profit for many years, and yet add greatly to the value of an 
estate, by its eff'ects in an ornamental point of view, by its shelter for 
game, c, and its ultimately forming a nucleus for raising the more 
valuable timber trees." In this sensible opinion I fully concur, after 
many j-ears' experience : and I should certainly prefer, for most pur- 
poses, to plant a thousand acres of a moor or a mountain, rather than a 
few acres only of such a surface, if both could be executed at equal 
cost. Still I own that I am extremely partial to the trenching and 
manuring system under certain circumstances, (provided manure can 
be found for a previous green-crop ;) and I trust that it will be brought 
into much more extensive use than heretofore, where a speedy return of 
crop and marketable timber, but nothing further, are expected. 

The most material question, however, between the advocates for the 
trenching and the pitting systems, remains yet to be examined ; by 
which it will appear, that profit is by no means the only rule by which 
the merits of the former are to be tried. Mr Withers having performed 
so many feats of prowess in this controversy — having beat down the 
surveyor of eleven thousand acres of woodland, and contumeliously 
trampled him under foot ; having had a tough encounter with one of 
the most successful planters, and certainly the greatest writer of the 
age, and in his own opinion discomfited Mm also — we cannot think it 
wonderful that he should, after such a triumph, feel quite competent to 
the task of raising (as he saj^s) a crop of oak, " to which we may look 
forward with some confidence for future navies." (P. 29.) The judicious 
phytologist, however, will pause ere he assign, even to such a champion, 
his laurels, and anxiously inquire whether the promised timber will be 
of the BEST QUALITY ; for " good marketable wood," which Mr 
Withers clearly may raise, and raise speedily, would hardly satisfy his 
Majesty's Commissioners of Woods and Forests for the important pur- 



SECTION VI. 



435 



pose of constructing British ships of war. Whether high cultivation 
and manuring should now be introduced over the whole royal forests, 
because Mr Withers in Norfolk is raising good wood by that method, 
and has written two successful pamphlets on the subject, is a question 
of some public interest. I must say, it is a method of obtaining the most 
durable Oak timber which is certainly new, and is contradicted by all 
existing facts, as well as all former practice. Those facts, therefore, 
are deserving of a short consideration, which is all that the limits of 
the present discussion will admit. 

The effects of Culture on the whole kingdom of vegetables (as the 
author of the "Encyclopaedia of Gardening" well observes) are so great as 
always to change their appearance, and in a considerable degree to 
change their nature. Culture, as phytologists admit, has nearly the 
same tendency towards affecting the growth of plants as the removing 
of them to a better climate, by expanding the parts of the entire vege- 
table. To any one at all acquainted with vegetable economy this is well 
known, and it is remarkable in all culinary vegetables and cultivated 
grasses, which assume an appearance in our gardens and fields, widely 
different from that which they display in their wild and natural state. 
In the same manner, the absence of culture, or the removing the vege- 
table to a colder climate, and a worse soil, tends to contract or consolidate 
the plant. 

The same general law operates in a similar way on all woody plants, 
but of course less rapidly, owing to the less rapid growth of trees, from 
the lowest bush to the Oak of the forest. In all of these the culture 
of the soil tends to accelerate vegetatimi, and, by consequence, to expand 
the fibre of the wood. It necessarily renders it softer, less solid, and more 
liable to suffer by the action of the elements. Let us shortly give a few 
examples of the uniform effect of this law of nature. 

Every forester is aware how greatly easier it is to cut over thorns or 
furze that are trained in hedges than such as grow naturally wild, and 
are exempt from culture. Gardeners experience the same thing, in 
pruning or cutting over fruit-trees or shrubs ; and the difference in the 
texture of the raspberry, in its wild and in its cultivated state, is as 
remarkable — for although the stem in the latter state is nearly double 
the thickness of that in the former, it is much more easily cut. On 
comparing the common Crab, the father of our orchards, with the 
cultivated Apple, the greater softness of the wood of the latter will be 
found not less striking to every arboriculturist. 

Further, the common Oak in Italy and Spain, where it grows faster 
than in Britain, is ascertained to be of shorter duration in those coun- 



436 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



tries. In the same way, the Oak in the highland mountains of Scotland 
o^r Wales is of a much harder and closer grain, and therefore more 
durable, than what is found in England ; though on such mountains it 
seldom rises to the fifth part, or less, of the English tree. Every car- 
penter in Scotland knows the extraordinary difference between the 
durability of Highland Oak and Oak usually imported from England, 
for the spokes of wheels. Every extensive timber-dealer is aware of 
the superior hardness of Oak raised in Cumberland and Yorkshire, over 
that of Monmouthshire and Herefordshire ; and such a dealer, in select- 
ing trees in the same woods in any district, will always give the prefer- 
ence to Oak of dow growth, and found on cold and clayey soils, and to 
Ash on rocky cliffs — which he knows to be the soils and climates natural 
to both. If he take a cubic foot of park Oak and another of forest 
Oak, and weigh the one against the other, (or if he do the like with Ash 
and Elm of the same descriptions,) the latter will uniformly turn out 
the heavier of the two. 

As an analogous case, I may refer to some facts collected by Lambert 
(no mean authority) respecting the Scotch Fir, {Pinus silvestris.) He 
says, that it does not stand longer than forty or fifty years on the 
rich and fertile land in both England and Scotland, where it is often 
planted, and where it rushes up with extraordinary rapidity. In the 
northern districts of Scotland, on the other hand, (a thing well kno^^^l 
to myself,) the difference between park Fir and Highland Fir is univer- 
sally known and admitted ; and the superiority of the latter is proved 
by its existence in buildings of great antiquity, M'here it is still found 
in a sound state — a difference which can be ascribed to no other cause 
than the mountainous situations (that is, the natural state) in which 
the former timber is produced, and " where, the trees being of slower' 
growtJi, the wood is consequently of a harder texture." — Monogr. on 
the Gen. Pin. p. 34. 

To the above I may add a circumstance connected with the Larch, 
another tree possessing a dense, hard, and durable fibre in its natural 
state. A friend of mine had some trees of this species, which had 
grown nearly fifty years, in a deep rich loam, close to some cottages and 
cabbage-gardens, where they had amply shared in the benefit of culture 
from the latter. When felled, the wood was soft and porous. It turned 
out of no duration when cut up into floors and field -gates ; and it was 
even found to burn as tolerable fire-wood, which Larch of superior 
quality is known never to do, at least without the assistance of some 
other wood. 

From these facts, and others that might be brought forward, (if room 



SECTION VI. 



437 



permitted,) as well as from vegetable anatomy in general, and the nature 
of the sap's descent in particular, we may deduce the following practical 
conclusions regarding the question at issue. 

First. That all timber trees thrive best, and produce wood of the 
best quality, when growing m soils and climates most natural to the 
species. It should, therefore, be the anxious study of the planter to 
ascertain and become well acquainted with these, and to raise trees as 
much as possible in such soils and climates. 

Secondly. That trees may be said to be in their natural state when 
they have sprung up fortuitously, and propagated themselves without 
aid from man, whether it be in aboriginal forests, ancient woodlands, 
commons, or the like.* That in such trees, whatever tends to increase 
the wood in a greater degree than accords with the species when in its 
natural state, must injure the quality of the timber. 

Thirdly. That whatever tends to increase the growth of trees tends 
to expand their vegetable fibre. That when that takes place, or when the 
annual circles of the wood are soft, and larger than the general annual 
increase of the tree should warrant, then the timber must be less hard 
and dense, and more liable to suffer from the action of the elements. 

Fourthly. That a certain slowness of growth is essentially necessary 
to the closeness of texture, and durability of all timber, but especially 
of the Oak ; and that, wherever the growth of that wood is unduly acce- 
lerated by culture of the soil, (such as by trenching and manuring,) or by 
undue superiority of climate, it will be injured in quality in the precise 
ratio in which those agents have been employed. 

Fifthly. That as it is extremely important, for the success of trees, 
to possess a certain degree of vigour in the outset, or to be what is 
technically called " well set off," the aid of culture is not in every case 
to be precluded by a consideration of the general rule. That if trees be 
in a soil and climate worse than those that are natural to them, then cul- 
ture will be of some advantage, as the extra increase of wood will be 

* Some trees, however, and herbaceous plants, may be said to be naturalised 
to certain situations, in which, without the aid of art, they never would have 
been found, "Thus," says Mr Loudon, "we sometimes find mountain plants com- 
mon in plains, and even in meadows ; and alpine trees which disseminate them- 
selves in warmer and more level districts. But the botanist, by comparing the 
effects of these different situations on the vegetable, always knows how to select, 
as general nature, that ^N\n.Qh perfects all its parts, and where the soil and situation 
are best suited to the reproduction of the species and the prolongation of indi- 
vidual life. These rules" adds he, "are founded in nature. For example : no 
person, judging from them, could mistake a warm English common for the 
natural soil and situation of the Scotch Fir, though it frequently is found grow- 
ing there." — Form, and Improv. of Countr. Resid. 



438 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



of a quality oiot inferior to what in its natural state it would obtain ; or, 
in other words, it will correspond with that degree of quality and quan- 
tity of timber which the nature of the species admits of being obtained : 
but culture, in this case, must be applied with cautious discrimination 
and a sound judgment. That, on the other hand, if trees be in a better 
soil and climate than are natural to them, and, at the same time, that the 
annual increase of wood be promoted by culture, (as already said,) it 
will be a decided disadvantage, and deteriorate the wood. In the same 
way, if trees be in their natural state, the annual increase of timber 
obtained by culture will injure its quality in a degree corresponding 
wdth the increased quantity. 

Sixthly. That such appears to be a correct, though condensed view 
of the operation of those general laws respecting growth which govern 
the whole vegetable kingdom, and especially their effects on woody 
plants, and of the salutary restraints which science dictates to be laid 
on artificial culture, of which pruning, as well as manuring, forms a con- 
stituent part, as has been explained above at so much length. That it 
is by a diligent study of the peculiar habits of trees, and the characters 
of soils, illustrated and regulated by facts drawn from general expe- 
rience, that rash or ignorant systems of arboriculture are to be best cor- 
rected, and science brought most beneficially to bear on general practice. 

If the foregoing propositions be fairly deduced, as I conceive them to 
be, from facts, and be also consistent with phytological principles, it fol- 
lows that the pitting s^^'stem, as already practised by most nations, (but 
w^hat Mr Withers confusedly calls the Scotch method,) if duly regula- 
ted by science, must be the best system for " the planting of waste 
lands," or, in general, for large designs of wood, and especially for the 
royal forests, where the qualitv of the timber is the main object. 
That if the system of culture, by means of trenching and manuring, 
were, as is proposed, to be universally introduced into those forests, it 
would create a great national loss by deteriorating the value of this im- 
portant part of the public property — although particular spots in these, 
as in all extensive woodlands, might be advantageously managed by it, 
under pecidiar circumstances. 

Further, it follows that Sir Walter Scott, in his able essay on " The 
Planting of Waste Lands," has committed no "fundamental errors" 
(as alleged by Mr Withers) by advocating the pitting system of planting, 
but that such errors most obviously have been committed by Mr Withers 
himself ; that he has done this, by endeavouring to give general and 
indiscriminate currency to a system which, how excellent soever for 
many purposes, cannot, any more than other systems of arboriculture, 
be properly practised unless under the control of science. 



SECTION VI. 



439 



For these, and other reasons that could be given, if room permitted 
here, I would humbly offer it as my opinion to His Majesty's Commis- 
sioners of Woods and Forests, that the system of trenching and manu- 
ring could not be introduced into the royal forests with safety to the 
quality of British Oak, which it has been the pride of this country to 
raise in such unrivalled perfection. I should therefore, with great 
deference, recommend it to them to persevere in the same steady and 
judicious course of management which they have been for some time 
pursuing. In this view, I should wish to see them employ, for the ope- 
rative part, none but the most experienced foresters that can be had, 
whether in our own country or in Germany, where the management of 
woods is better understood ; and to procure, if possible, for the superior 
departments, superintendents who are not mere gardeners, like Mr 
Billington and others, but who, to a thorough knowledge of planting, as 
practised in the best districts, unite some pretensions to phytological 
intelligence. Mr Withers has talked of a parliamentary inquiry, and 
even expressed an anxious desire for it. Let himself or his friends come 
forward with it when they please. The more that management like 
the above is investigated, the more it will merit the thanks of the 
country. 

In respect to Mr Withers' first pamphlet, I have already expressed 
the opinion which I entertain of its merit. It is impossible for me not 
to respect the ardent mind, and active industry, of a writer who is a 
fellow-labourer with myself in the up-hill work of improving British 
arboriculture. Although we differ on some points, yet I am certain 
that he will now agree with me as to the low, or at least the unsettled 
state of our knowledge in the art of planting on scientific principles ; 
of which a better example cannot be given than that, in 1825, Mr 
William Billington published an account of his own and Messrs 
Driver's bungling operations in planting the forest of Dean ; and that 
three years after — namely, in 1828 — as a remedy for those evils, and in 
order to raise the most durable Oak for " future navies," Mr Withers 
himself brought forth his recipe of high cultivation and manuring of 
the soil. It is further worthy of remark, that in the numerous and ex- 
cellent communications received by him (as appears by his book) on the 
same subject, from planters certainly of judgment and experience, not 
one of them, Mr Cuthbert Wm. Johnson excepted, appears to be a man 
of science. Nevertheless, it would be unjust not to add that the reader 
will find, in this second publication, some valuable remarks on " the 
pruning and thinning of trees." Also, he will find in the more homely 
and unpretending production of honest William Billington, probably 
the hest instructions for conducting those important processes that exist 



440 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



in the language, together with much good sense and judicious practice, 
in several other departments. 

The truth is, although the public attention has been of late more 
excited towards the important department of planting than heretofore, 
it is yet too much regarded as a mechanical art. 1 entirely agree with 
the judicious author of the "Encyclopaedia of Gardening" (from whom 
much of what I have said above is taken) on the effect of culture on 
trees, and that it is a branch of planting which seems to have been 
wholly neglected by practical men. They appear, as he justly observes, 
to have carried it on with reference to no other end than the increase 
it produces on the qiiantity of timber. To exclude either pruning or 
culture from a proper system of arboricultural management can never 
be the design of any sound phytologist ; but they are both very question- 
able agents in the hands of unscientific persons, and they can be em- 
ployed by no one without extreme caution, and a due regard to those 
laws which nature has established as paramount in her works, 

Messrs Withers and Pontey, the most distinguished advocates of these 
practices, I take the liberty to think, have fallen into this general error ; 
and, content with the hulk of the marketable article, and the shortness 
of the time within which it can be produced, they have suffered the 
solidity and durahility of timber to escape their notice. With a parti- 
ality to culture nearly equal to Mr Withers', and deeming it applic- 
able to many purposes to which it has not as yet been applied, I con- 
ceive that the indiscriminate recommendation of aoiy practice, without 
a mature consideration of its nature and consequences, is inconsistent 
with sound science. We should reflect that the practice we have been 
considering would, with all its excellence, if universally introduced, be 
an evil the more formidable on this account, that its effects might not 
become apparent until it was past a cure. 

Note V. Page 148. 

In the foregoing note, a good deal has been said respecting the nature 
and use of trenching. I will now make a few observations on one of 
the most important and interesting objects to which that process can 
be applied — I mean the removal of Rushes from land. A greater im- 
pediment to agricultural as well as arboricultural improvement cannot 
exist, than this unsightly weed, because wherever there are rushes 
there must be superfluous moisture ; and that excess of an indispensable 
element is equally hostile to abundant grain-crops, good pasturage, 
and good wood. 

To point out a method of eradicating the Rush eflfectually is a pro- 



SECTION VI. 



441 



blem that has not as yet been solved, by men in either of these depart- 
ments. The causes which occasion it are twofold : first, underground 
water — in which case it is completely to be removed by draining ; and 
secondly, tenacity of soil, which retains moisture as if in a cup— a 
species of evil for which no cure has ever been found. Observing some 
years ago, that on no land where the subsoil was completely dry were 
any Rushes ever known to spring up ; and reasoning on the indisput- 
able maxim that, suhlatd causa, tollitur effectus, I conceived, that if any 
means could be devised to carry off superfluous moisture from under- 
neath the soil, and to carry it off speedily, the Rushes would disappear 
as a matter of course. Experience had shown that, from underground 
drains, however carefully executed, no such effect would follow ; because 
numerous examples exist of persons who, from an anxiety to lay dry 
particular fields, have intersected them with drains in all directions, 
within five and six feet of one another, and still Rushes have sprung up, 
even on the tops of their drains. Nothing, therefore, promised to be 
eff^ectual except some method of rendering the entire subsoil a drain, and 
thus carrying off the water w^hich descended from the higher grounds, 
or fell from the sky, before it had time to stagnate. 

For this important purpose deep trenching seemed particularly well 
adapted, as the first principle of it consists in reversing the order of 
the natural strata, and putting down, to any given depth, the loose and 
friable soil which has been the subject of culture. By that means, a 
subsoil of an entirely different quality, namely, the fine mould of the 
surface, would at once be created at the bottom of the trench, and 
through which the superfluous water, formerly retained by impervious 
strata, would now readily percolate. Besides this, another object of 
immense interest presented itself — and that w^s the sudden and effectual 
alteration, and therefore melioration, of the soil from wet to dry, from 
stiff to porous ; and if it were true, as already stated, that " the best 
soil, whether for wood or agricultural crops, was one that is at once 
loose and deep," here both depth and looseness would at once be obtained, 
with the power of retaining water only to the proper extent, and exert- 
ing a great chemical agency for the preservation of manures. 

My first experiment, in reducing this theory to practice, was made 
on about two acres of old meadow land, on which Rushes had been 
abundant from time immemorial, from two to three feet high. Having 
previously ascertained that there were no great underground springs, I 
directed the whole to be trenched eighteen inches deep. The trenching 
was effectively executed in the line of the slope or declination of the 
surface, so that, if any interstitial mounds of subsoil (see the foregoing 
note) had been inadvertently left in the bottom, no obstruction, after 



442 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



rain, should be given to the speedy descent of the water. The surface 
mould not being above six inches deep, the whole was deposited by the 
first spit at the bottom of the trench. The next six inches consisted of 
strong loamy clay, and were thrown immediately upon the first ; and 
the last six inches, which were of as obdurate a clay (^Scottice Till) as 
could well be imagined, formed the top of the new surface. 

Being in haste to return the land to its former condition of meadow, 
I did not bestow the proper time, as I ought to have done, in working- 
it by means of a complete summer-fallow, or drill-crops well manured ; 
but, after merely reducing the clay to a good state of pulverisation, I 
gave it an abundant top-dressing — first of mild lime, and then of dung- 
compost, prepared with peat-moss — according to Lord Meadowbank's 
method, and immediately sowed it down with grass-seeds. This took 
place in 1810. The hay-crop that followed was immense. It has been 
cut in hay repeatedly since that period, and twice dressed with lime 
compost ; but since the time of the trenching, (now seventeen years^ not 
a Rush has ventured to put up its head. Had the cure been only tempo- 
rary. Rushes certainly would have appeared again in greater luxuriance, 
in consequence of the culture, after the third or fourth season. 

The next experiment I tried was on the sheepwalk of the park, of 
which a particular quarter, near the margin of the lake — being of strong 
rich loam, eight or nine inches deep, with a clayey subsoil — was apt to 
be rushy, after being some years in pasture. This space of ground 
extended to about four acres. It was trenched in 1821, nearly twenty 
inches deep. It was treated nearly in the same style as the meadow 
just now mentioned, and got the same dressing of lime and compost 
slightly ploughed in, and completely pulverised, and was then sown 
down in pasture. After six years, I can truly say that no rush has 
ever appeared upon it ; and now, after another year, (in October 1828,) 
I can attest the same result. Let it be observed, that this experiment 
differed somewhat from the other ; for pasture immediately succeeded 
the sowing down, and no cutting of hay took place. 

In 1822 I made various other trials, all attended with the same 
uniform success. From one and all of them I was led to the conclusion, 
that in deep trenching on cultivated land, properly executed, a certain 
cure will always be found for Rushes, proceeding from the worst cause 
in which they originate, viz., tenacity of soil. The simple theory is 
this, that if a new and permeable subsoil, composed of the uppermost 
friable strata, be thus formed underneath, it will act nearly as if gravel 
or sand had been substituted : and we know that, if either soils or sub- 
soils be once fairly stirred, no complete consolidation will afterwards 
take place. 



SECTION VI. 



443 



It is probable that this method of eradicating Rushes has not as yet 
become very extensively known, and therefore has not been much 
verified by the experience of others.* In the end of 1821, or beginning 
of 1822, a scientific friend of mine, who saw the work going on in the 
park here, was so much struck with its importance and simplicity that 
he drew up a short account of it, as managed at this place, and pub- 
lished the article in the " Farmer's Magazine " of Edinburgh, where the 
reader will find it.t But in that article, as far as I remember, (for I 
have it not at hand,) the depth of the trenching and the expense 
attending it are both underrated. In respect to the trenching, I never 
trenched less than eighteen, and sometimes twenty inches in depth ; and 
as to the expense, it never amounted to less than Is. per pole, or per fall 
Scotch measure, (which bear the same proportion to each other as the 
higher national rates do,) or £Q per acre when spade-work only was 
necessary. If the aid of the pick was called in, it amounted to 2d. 
more per fall, or 26s. per acre. But in such a case previous outlay is 
of little moment, if we can only rely on an adequate or profitable 
return. 

It is a curious fact, and may be verified by those who are disposed to 
make the experiment on a single acre, or less, that the trenching of 
ground, if done only deep enough^ has (besides eradicating Rushes) the 
extraordinary eff'ect of rendering wet land dry, and dry land moist, for 
the most beneficial produce either in timber or agricultural crops. In 
respect to the former soil, it is obvious on the face of the proposition, and 
from the foregoing experiments. As to the latter, I have more than 
once verified it by trenching a sandy soil fifteen inches deep, when there 
were not more than four inches of good mould on the surface, and 
when the mould was unscrupulously put down to the bottom of the 
trench, and eleven inches of pure sand superinduced upon it ! Never- 
theless, the oats sown the first year upon this soil, and manured and 
treated as above, at once reached the mould at the bottom of the trench ; 

* So little does this seem to be known, that an intelligent friend of mine 
(than whom no man does more work, or does it in a better style of execution) 
is, at this moment, (October 1827,) engaged, with the help of a professional 
drainer, brought at some expense from a distance, in endeavouring to extirpate 
the Rushes in his park by surface drains, at twenty and thirty feet distance. 
It would be quite in vain for me to tell him that his drainer has no science, 
and that his Rushes, ua this way, cannot be lyermanently eradicated There are 
very few men who put any value on advice that is gratuitous. Besides, I am 
too near at hand (not five miles off) to be of any use to him. Were I to come 
from Lincolnshire, or the Land's-End, offering for fifty guineas to communicate 
my secret, I believe I could render him very material service. 

t No. XC, for May 1822. 



444 



NOTES AND ILLUSTEATIONS. 



and they would have gone down double the depth, had they had an 
opportunity. On trying oats in the mould of a hot-house, the roots were 
found to descend two feet nine inches ! 

I regret that there is not room, in the brief space of an ordinary note, 
(which has been now so greatly exceeded,) to demonstrate the reason- 
ableness of the experiments" made on chemical principles, so as to satisfy 
the man of science. The man of practice may very easily satisfy him- 
self. He who tries the thing will be convinced, that, while by deep 
trenching he will raise the value of his land (as held out in the text, 
by the one-haK in some cases, and by double in others, especially if he 
take a green crop the first season, his entire expense, for both labour 
and manure, will generally be repaid by that crop : so that, whether he 
operate as a husbandman or an arboriculturist, he will, by the second 
season, (as the saying is,) be fairly " on velvet" — or, in other words, that 
this improvement of the subject loill pay itself after a twehemonth. 

I am aware that the trenching of land, whether in theory or practice, 
is a subject not fully understood — not even by Mr Withers huuself, not- 
withstanding his two pamphlets, which are drawn up to illustrate it. 
The extraordinary and wonderful effects produced by deepening, and the 
comminution of the parts, (but the one is useless without the other,) are 
known comparatively to few persons, notwithstanding the success with 
which chemistry has already been applied to agriculture ; and none but 
gardeners and nurserymen are, as yet, prepared to believe the vast power 
which they put into the hands of a man of science and enterprise. 



SECTION VII. 



Note I. Page 167. 

I FEEL particular satisfaction in paying this just tribute to tlie memorj^ 
of a superior and ingenious artist. His professional character has been 
slightly, but justly sketched, in the passage to which this Note refers ; 
and all who remember him will unite with me in doing justice to his 
private worth, his pleasing manners, and his extensive information on all 
subjects connected with rural affairs. Mr White was an excellent agri- 
culturist, an ingenious mechanic, and a planter of great skill. Like his 
master. Brown, he was in the habit of undertaking the execution of his 
own designs, and also of plantations of considerable extent, in both 
England and Scotland, until his business as a landscape-gardener, in the 
latter country, became too extensive to admit of such undertakings. In 
this way he had planted, before the year 1780, for Lord Douglas, at 
Douglas Castle, about fifteen hundred acres of ground, which are now 
covered with fine wood, and of which the thinnings have long been a 
source of considerable revenue to the noble owner. 

About the year 1770, Mr White made the purchase of an estate in 
the higher parts of the county of Durham, on which he planted so 
extensively and successfully, that it may be worth while, for the 
encouragement of the young planter, to give some idea of the returns 
which it made to him. But these are so wonderful and portentous, 
that, to the ordinary reader, they may rather seem referable to the feats 
of some arboricultural Miinchausen than to the sober results of judg- 
ment and industry. 

The territory of Woodlands (for so it was named by the new owner) 
extended to between seven and eight hundred acres, and cost Mr White 
about =£750. It was situated in a high, and at that time a barren tract 
of country, about eighteen miles from the city of Durham, and wholly 
destitute of wood. But as it was surrounded with coal mines, he had 
the sagacity to foresee that there was scarcely any return that might 
not be expected from Fir and Larch, and other quick growers, judi- 
ciously planted, and on a suitable soil. The first thing he did, there- 



446 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



fore, was to enclose with a strong ring-fence the whole estate, in which, 
of course, he hadt he benefit of aid from his neighbours ; and having 
previously drained such parts of it as were -swampy, he immediately 
proceeded to plant the whole, excepting only an arable farm of a hun- 
dred and forty acres. This took place about 1777. The soil was a 
brown mould, the subsoil light and gravelly ; and although he covered 
it with trees of every common species, yet he resolved that the Larch, 
and the Scotch Fir, for which he had a peculiar predilection, should 
form the staple of his ivoods. 

The singular spectacle of nearly an entire property dedicated to 
trees, did not fail to attract the attention of his neighbours, who enter- 
tained no belief of the extraordinary success of w^ood in these high 
latitudes ; but the repeated premiums and medals conferred by the 
Society of Arts soon attested the importance of his operations. After 
the plantations had grown for five-and-twenty years, or more, Mr White 
began to think of establishing his residence on the spot. For that pur- 
pose he built a commodious house and offices ; he laid out an excellent 
kitchen garden, and added shrubberies, a piece of water, and a handsome 
little park, all cut out of this extensive woodland. Enclosures adapted 
to tillage soon followed, which were added to the arable farm already 
in his own occupation. 

But the wonderful part of the story still remains to be told. It is 
well known to those who chance to have subjected to the plough old 
woodland, how inconceivably even the poorest soils are meliorated by 
the droppings of trees, and particularly of the Larch, for any consider- 
able length of time, and the rich coat of vegetable mould which is 
thereby accumulated on the original surface. The first years' crops of 
corn were accordingly immense, and those that followed were such as 
to give an extraordinary impulse to the good culture which gradually 
took place. After the park was laid down, and the farm improved, the 
land-rent, fairly estimating its value to a tenant, amounted to no less 
than about £250 a-year. 

In respect to the plantations, after the first ten or twelve years 
they began to pay admirably in pit-wood, hedge-stakes, and other 
country uses ; and the Fir and Larch the best of all, from the tanning 
principle so powerfully possessed by the latter over and above the 
value of the wood. On inquiry, many years ago, I found that the 
Larch-wood alone returned Mr White £650 a-year — a sum not greatly 
less than the price he had paid for the entire estate ; and five or six 
years since, it appeared that his son, the present Mr White, had often 
drawn more than £400 a-year for his Larch-bark only, and i:iOOO 
a-year as the entire revenue from his woods ! — This, it is to be observed, 



SECTION VII. 



447 



was derived merely from the thinnings of these thriving plantations, 
including, of course, the cutting out of the place and park, as already- 
stated. 

To those acquainted with the rapid progress made by the Larch on a 
gravelly soil, on which any tolerable quantity of vegetable mould has 
been aggregated, it is a fact well known that it doubles its value every 
three years, after fifteen years old, and every five years, after five-and- 
twenty ; so that it was obvious that, in that ratio, it must soon reach 
the greatest size and value which the soil and climate would admit. 
This period has now nearly arrived ; and a valuation having been made 
of the whole of the Fir and Larch wood on the estate, it amounted last 
year (1826) to the surprising sum of £30,000, putting little value on any 
other species of wood ! ! ! Whatever is at its best, it is pretty clear, 
can admit of no further improvement ; so that the judicious owner, as 
I am informed, has it now in contemplation to cut down the whole ; 
and after taking two crops of corn, (which must be of the most abun- 
dant sort,) to plant the estate anew, in order to create a second fortune 
for his family ! 

I regret that I am not so much acquainted with the details, as to 
give a comparative view of the expenditure and the returns from the 
beginning, as it might prove interesting to those who are embarking, or 
who may hereafter embark, in similar designs. But there is good ground 
to believe that arboricultural skill and perseverance were never more 
amply or speedily rewarded, even during the lifetime of the planter, 
than by this judicious and most successful speculation. 



SECTION VIII. 



Note I. Page 183. 

I BEG to take this opportunity of accounting to the critical reader fof 
a few new words which I have taken the liberty to introduce, such as 
the one to which reference is here made ; and my only apology is, that 
in a new art the practice may perhaps be admissible. 

" To machine a tree," is an expression which I have for many years 
applied to the act of putting a tree on the machine. Hence, " the 
machiner" is the person who operates in this way ; and both words 
have for some time been current in this part of the kingdom. In the 
same manner, I have taken the liberty to introduce the expression that 
ground is " sinky," when it yields easily to the foot of man, or other 
animals ; that plants are " stemmy," when they are tall and slender, 
and have few branches on the stem ; and that earth is " spadeable," 
when it is capable of being worked with the spade. I have said " decal- 
cation of the surface," for treading it with the foot ; " to spade earth," 
for to throw or turn up earth with the spade ; " to handle roots," for to 
distribute or arrange them with the hand ; and hence "a handler," for 
one that so distributes or arranges them. Of these it may probably be 
said that some are fair derivatives, particularly " decalcation, sinky, 
stemmy, and spadeable ; " and that, according to the rule of Horace, 
they may be considered as adding to the copiousness of speech. In 
favour of "machiner" and "machining," "handler" and "handling," 
I have little to offer, only that they stand us in good stead in field- 
practice. 

On the same ground, I have also to ap^ ogise for the application of a 
few known and established expressions, w^hich is rather different from 
that generally in use. Thus, I have said " to transfer a tree," for to 
transplant or remove it ; and " transference" for transplantation. These, 
however, I consider as good words, though pure Latinisms. But " a 
severe exposure," for a place severely exposed ; " a staring view," for a 
view stared at ; these and suchlike terms are not so defensible, although 
they may have been used by landscape-gardeners and others. In this 



SECTION Vlll. 



U9 



understanding, it is merely (as the Schoolmen say) taking- the objective 
for the subjective, or vice versd^ as may suit the circumstances of tLe 
case. 

Note II. Page 191. 

I am not certain, if " Janker " be a term known to the English 
wood-merchant. In Edinburgh, Glasgow, and other great towns in 
this kingdom, a pole or beam, from fifteen to thirty feet long, of great 
strength, and fortified with iron, when mounted on a crossbar, with a 
pair of high wheels at each end, is called " a janker ;" and the immense 
logs of wood which are transported, by means of it, from one place to 
another, are swung under the axle, and consequently under the pole 
also of the machine. 

In the transporting or the planting of spreading trees with a machine 
constructed on this model there could be no room for the tops, because 
the branches would be chafed to pieces, and destroyed by the hind 
wheels. But were the top to be much lightened, or still more, were it 
to be pollarded, as is often done in both Scotland and England, and 
reduced nearly to a log of wood, the janker would act as a most efficient 
implement, and very heavy subjects might be removed by it. More- 
over, the work would be executed far more rapidly, and at a fourth 
part of the expense of the platform, and the preserving of the upright 
position of the tree. I have sometimes thought that it might be 
practicable to apply this sort of machine with advantage to the pre- 
servative system, by making the length of the pole equal to the full 
height of the tallest tree you mean to remove, and so the hind wheels 
would raise the top sufficiently off the ground. If the fore wheels, for 
example, were six feet high, the hind ones might be eight, which would 
afford sufficient room for elevation ; and thus the branches might 
perhaps be managed with greater facility and safety than by any other 
method. But the use of such a machine would necessarily be limited 
to operations on an open surface. It must be all "plain sailing," as 
the seamen say, and no sudden turns, intricacies, or narrow passes, such 
ad often occur, would be admissible in its route. 



2 F 



SECTION X. 



Note I. Pa^e 226. 

" Shows," as the refuse of a flax-mill is usually called in this part of 
the kingdom, when freed of dust and other impurities, form an excellent 
thatch for houses, the peculiar qualities of which I shall mention here, 
for the benefit of those who may not have experienced their utility for 
that object. 

Five-and-twent}" years since, when no value was put on this useful 
article, it was generally thrown into the river or stream, on which the 
flax-mill w^as situated, and carried away by the next flood. Observing 
that when shows abounded, the people about the mill used to throw 
them on the roofs of the sheds, where they seemed completely to turn 
the rain, I believe I was the first, or among the first, who thought of 
applying them to the roofs of cottages. Accordingly, expert persons 
\vere here set to work to draw and bundle them up like straw used for 
thatch ; and the shows were put on, about twelve inches thick, either 
by sewing them with marline, or otherwise by superinducing them on a 
thin coat of fresh turf, as is often done with straw in Scotland. About 
the same time, likewise, was contrived a wooden tool of about fourteen 
inches long, but of the rudest sort, named a comb, for smoothing the 
thatch after being fixed on and properly laid with the hand, wdiich 
soon brought it to a fine surface. 

This covering was of course w^hite, and when first put on extremely 
beautiful ; and although it might be supposed inflammable in its 
nature, and therefore hazardous on account of fire, yet it turned out on 
trial to be quite otherwise : we found as the shows lost their light 
colour, and became brown by the weather, they obtained a skin so hard 
and smooth as equally to resist wet and drought. Even live coals 
might be thrown upon it without danger. In so far, then, this covering 
has been found superior to straw, which is easily ignited, while in point 
of durabilit}^ it greatly exceeds the latter. From any information that 
can be obtained from the flax-dressers, respecting the roofs of their 
sheds, it appears that the}^ will turn rain for forty years or more. Of 
that length of duration, however, I can say nothing from my own 



SECTION X. 



451 



experience ; but on cottage roofs, when the thatching is properly 
executed, I can answer for more than twenty years, with very little 
repair being wanted. 

At first, this sort of thatch could be procured at a small expense, 
merely that of drawing or preparing the material ; but now, since it 
has got into some repute in this district, about a third part more than 
the price of straw is usually paid for the shows. As a substantial and 
durable covering for houses, however, I can much recommend it, and 
especially in situations where roofs are exposed externally to risk from 
fire. But it is to be observed, that this remark applies to the outside 
only ; for internally, and on the imder side of the thatch, which is 
beyond the action of the atmosphere, it does not lose its character as 
tow, and is very easily ignited. 

Note II. Page 241. 

As the banks of the Clyde, in this immediate neighbourhood, and the 
rich vale of the Tay, or Carse of Gowrie, in Perthshire, are celebrated 
for their orchards, the hint here given respecting a method of manuring 
them, superior to the one commonly practised, may perhaps be worthy 
the attention of the owners or occupiers of such grounds, and it shall 
have a cursory notice in this place. In the district between Lanark 
and Hamilton alone, in a favourable season, the value of the fruit 
carried to Glasgow and elsewhere, independently of what is consumed 
on the spot, amounts to not less than between £3000 and £4000. 

In these orchards, which are in general extremely well managed, the 
trees are planted in rows, about forty feet distant from one another, and 
from fifteen to twenty from plant to plant. When the ground is to be 
manured, which must be repeated from time to time, in order to refresh 
and invigorate the roots, the practice usually is to dig in farm-yard 
dung over the whole surface, and to take a crop of potatoes ; or some- 
times to ridge in the dung in the line of the intended potato-drills. 
Now, instead of this, let half the quantity of dung be taken, and made 
up, according to Lord Meadowbank's method, with a like quantity of 
peat-moss, which last is to be had at no unattainable distance from any 
of these orchards. If the peat be in a very advanced state of decom- 
position, (from having been wheeled out some time before, or any other 
cause,) then only one-third part of the dung will be required, and two- 
thirds of peat. Let a trench then be opened in the centre between the 
rows, four or four and a half feet wide, and cut as deep nearly as the 
depth of the trenched ground, or stirred earth, of which the orchard soil 
has been originally formed — say from sixteen to eighteen inches. Let 



452 



NOTES AND ILLUSTEATIONS. 



the contents be thrown up in the autumn, and spread out, in order to 
become friable by the winter's frost. In the month of March following 
mix this earth, as intimately as possible^ with the dung-compost, so pre- 
pared and fermented as above, turn it twice, and spread the whole 
round each tree in the rows. 

From what I know respecting the quantity of dung employed, accor- 
ding to the ordinary method, the large portion of peaty earth with 
which it is to be mixed as above, added to the contents of the trench, I 
am led to believe that, if ver;i/ intimately mixed, it will form a mass of 
materials well calculated to enlarge the pabulum of the trees to a con- 
siderable extent. If the soil be clayey, (which is generally the case in 
these orchards,) and sand be at no great distance, it would be a sensible 
improvement to add a fourth part of that earth to the entire mass, even 
though in a state of considerable purity, and of itself incapable of pro- 
ducing vegetation. Let the whole mass then be regularly spread round 
each tree, beginning at the stem, at six or eight inches deep, as you can 
afford it, and ending at two or three inches ; and lastly, let it be pointed 
with the spade, to the depth of two inches only, into the original soil. 
Thus an area will be covered of twelve feet or more out from the tree, 
or as far as the branches extend. Lastly, let the new surface be levelled 
with the rake, and sown down with grass-seeds. 

It will suffice to give the trees a supply of fine mould, such as this, 
once in seven or eight years ; and when this is laid on, if attention be 
paid to give the whole surface of the orchard a good top-dressing for 
grass, in the ordinary manner, I could venture to promise that the 
superior produce, by the second year, in hay and fruit, will repay the 
extra expense and labour attending the work. Should this expense be 
grudged, and brought into a disadvantageous comparison with the imme- 
diate return from the potato-crop, the following method may be tried. 

Let the central trench be opened as already directed, and the contents 
rendered friable by a sufficient exposure to the elements. Let one-fourth 
part of quick lime, (that is, lime shells,) in the succeeding spring, after 
being well slaked, twice turned, and brought to the most powdery state 
possible, be applied to the contents of the trench, and intimately mixed 
with them, observing that, by twice turning at least, the minutest commi- 
Qiution of the parts takes place. Let this compost then be spread round 
the stems of the trees, pointing it in with the spade as before, two inches 
deep, and sowing down with grass-seeds in a similar manner. 

This species of top-dressing, though less expensive, will not pay 
nearly so well as the other, in proportion to the money laid out ; but 
that will not probably amount to more than one-third of the former 
cost. In either case, the pabulum of the tree will be surprisingly 



SECTION X. 



453 



enlarged, and in a way far more effective than by digging among the 
roots; while no injury will be done by the former method to the nume- 
rous, minute, and capillary fibres, which in every case form the true 
absorbents of the root. 

To the fruit-borders of a kitchen garden the same sort of management 
may be very successfully applied. But in that view I should recom- 
mend that the compost be made up of one-fourth part of coal-ashes, 
completely freed of cinders, and three-fourths of any tolerable soil. The 
whole should be prepared in the manner already more than once directed 
in the text for planting, and also for invigorating trees in the open park. 
If the fruit trees to be manured be planted against a wall, the compost 
should cover the space of ten feet out ; if they be in the open borders, 
six feet may sufficiently answer the purpose. This practice will by no 
means preclude the cultivation of leguminous crops, and those especially 
of which the roots run near the surface, and which should always be 
preferred for such situations. 

Note III. Page 242. 

As the great object about all places, whether to the husbandman or 
to the arboriculturist, should be to increase the quantity of disposable 
manure, it has been found by experience that the juice or exudation 
from the dunghill may be far more advantageously employed for that 
purpose, than for watering the roots of trees. From this rule, however, 
we must always except the roots of Vines in the hot-house ; for no supe- 
rior method has ever been found of giving an immediate stimulus to 
the growth of those plants. 

The object to which I here allude — that is, the mode of employing the 
juices of the dunghill — was, I believe, first suggested by the late Lord 
Meadowbank, to whom alone we are indebted for the discovery of the 
method of converting peat into manure by means of fermentation. The 
object is, to water peaty earth, if in a mry decomposed state, and so 
produce excellent manure within a short period. That this liquid will 
decompose pure peat itself, we are well aware ; but much time and 
patience would be necessary to decompose it to any extent, and also 
a greater command of the liquid than could be easily procured. Who- 
ever has dry peat-moss at hand, however, should not omit, when his 
dung-yard is cleared out, to lay a stratum of it at the bottom, so that, 
when the contents are taken out some time after, it will be found as 
valuable a manure as any other in his possession. 

Every diligent arboriculturist, and every one residing at a distance 
from a town or considerable village, where dung can be purchased at 
pleasure, should have a well or pit at the lower side of his dung-yard, 



454 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



to which the juice naturally tends, and without which great loss of a 
valuable substance is always suffered, especially in rainy weather. This 
pit should be carefully lined with dry stone, and secured underneath 
and at the sides with a good wall of well made clay-puddle, a foot thick. 
It should have erected in it a pump of cast iron, (for wood, in such a 
situation, is of no durability,) of which the working barrel is about four 
inches and a half in diameter. 

The method of making this manure is extremely simple. Once in 
ten days in winter time, and about three weeks in summer, the liquor 
collected is pumped up into a large barrel, mounted with a three-inch 
brass cock. The barrel used for watering your trees in the park will 
answer the purpose admirably. Having prepared a heap of peat-moss, 
as dry and as far advanced towards decomposition as possible, and having 
conveyed the water-cart to the spot, the liquid is to be drawn off in 
stable pails, and poured leisurely over the heap. As soon as it has, in 
this way, got two complete waterings, it is to be turned and thoroughly 
mixed ; and provided the liquid be pretty strongly impregnated with the 
fertilising juices, after a second course of both — that is, in all four water- 
ings — the whole will be found converted into valuable manure, fitted for 
every purpose of husbandry, arboriculture, or horticulture. 

One thing only in the department last mentioned may be noticed, 
and that is, that the application of this manure, or indeed of any other, 
of which peaty matter forms a part, should be confined by the gardener 
to crops cultivated with the spade or the hoe. For those raised from 
small seeds, and which require hand-weeding, it is not so suitable, from 
the quantity of chickweed that decomposed peat is apt to engender, 
especially in the first season. . 



SECTION XI. 



Note I. Page 265. 

The lodge and entrance-gate to the park, with their combined features, 
woody and architectural, if properly executed, should be one of the most 
pleasing accessories to the landscape in a well laid-out place. As they 
are the first to meet the stranger's eye, so they should, like a good saloon 
or entrance-hall to a house, convey a favourable impression of the pro- 
priety and good taste of the arrangements within. A good lodge should 
present the idea of an "ornamental cottage," always harmonising with 
the style of the mansion-house ; not a fantastical or nondescript hut, 
covered with thatch and buried in creepers, and harmonising with nothing 
good or bad, natural or artificial, about the place. But lodges and gate- 
ways, in which we should expect the joint skill and taste of the architect 
and the landscape-gardener, are, generally speaking, very dull and mo- 
notonous things, which can do little credit to the artists, and give no 
pleasure to the owner. 

It must, however, be acknowledged that it is the landscape-gardener, 
and not the architect, who is chiefly in fault in this business. Mr 
Hunt, and other late architects who have turned their attention to 
rural decoration, have sufficiently redeemed the credit of their art by 
various sketches for buildings of this description ; so that we are not 
now, as heretofore, without models from which to form a very tasteful 
selection. With regard to the other department, I shall beg leave, as a 
sort of ex-professor of that art, to offer a few hints for the improve- 
ment of park entrances on the present occasion. By rendering them 
letter pictures than they now display, I should hope that they might 
become at once more interesting to the traveller who passes by, and 
more attractive to the visitor who enters the grounds to which they 
belong. 

In accomplishing this object, I propose to proceed on two simple 
principles. The first is, to recommend the study of open work, more 
than has usually been adopted in the disposition of the woody accom- 
paniments of the buildings ; and the second is, to give them foreground 
and consequence, by throwing them back from the public road to a certain 



456 



KOTES AND ILLUSTKATIONS. 



distance — thus producing something like landscape effect by the exter- 
nal wooding of the intermediate surface. 

In respect to the first principle, it is plain that the wholly shutting 
up, and rendering impervious to the eye of the traveller, the entrance to 
a park or place of any tolerable extent, can never be consistent with 
good taste. To admit, from this station, such open views of the inter- 
nal scenery of the place as often delighted our ancestors, is now out of 
the question ; and it is accordingly not less reprobated than proscribed, 
in an age which places privacy and seclusion in the foremost rank of 
rural enjoyments. All that I should for our present purpose recom- 
mend is, a limited hut striking landscape, in which the lodge forms the 
central point of attraction, bounded on all sides by grove and under- 
wood, and not stretching beyond a hundred yards in length, and half 
that number in breadth, towards the park side, both within and without 
the railing, or pales of the entrance. This, for the largest places, I 
conceive would be sufficient ; and for smaller ones in proportion, 
according to the taste and fancy of the owner. 

As to the second principle, the throwing back the lodge to a certain 
distance from the road, thirty yards or ninety feet seem ample for the 
residences of most private individuals ; that is, allowing thirty feet or 
more of the number as a sufficient space between the railing or open 
pales and the lodge. The grassy margins along each side of the car- 
riage-way (which should extend from the pales the whole way through 
the bounding-line of plantation till they reach the open park) might 
be from thirty to forty feet broad, having scattered over them, at wide 
distances — say from twenty-four to thirty feet — -stately standard or 
grove trees, interspersed here and there with underwood, through which 
the eye might be partially let in, so as to catch a yiew of the park. 
These grassy margins, on which the sheep or deer could browse down to 
the gateway, would form a pleasing connexion with the external 
ground, which is also to be wooded"; and being separated from it by the 
open pales or railing, would give considerable intricacy to the picture. 

The external ground itself, on which the main effect depends, should 
be richly clothed, like the grassy margins as above, with grove-trees 
and underwood in the same way intermixed, relieving and massing up 
the building, so as to form the most interesting landscape that the 
nature of the ground and the limited view into the park will admit. 
In order to give proper effect to the lodge, as its distance from the open 
pales should be thirty feet or more as already mentioned, so it should 
stand eighteen or twenty feet off the carriage-way. And to this it may 
be added, that the entire length of the external plantation or grass-plot 
should be at least a hundred yards, if the ground will allow it ; and that 



SECTION XT. 



457 



the pales and gateway should, of course, cross the coach-road at right 
angles. Moreover, the external grass-plot, which in front should he 
kept neat with the scythe, must be protected from stray cattle on the 
turnpike road hy a low rough fence of Larch stakes, about two feet 
high, or less, of which the bark is allowed to remain upon the'stakes. 

If, in laying out an entrance-gate on such picturesque principles, at 
an old place where great trees could be commanded for the external 
wooding, and for the park-like margins on each side of the carriage- 
way, the effect would be splendid were any tolerable skill displayed in 
the execution ; and it would,- 1 am certain, do much to bring this style 
into fashion in any district in which it chanced to be executed. Without 
the passport of fashion I know that nothing will go down in England ; 
as even there picturesque effect in the details of the handsomest places 
is not always studied. In Scotland the thing is neither known nor 
studied at all ; but wherever it does appear, it seizes our approbation 
we know not why, and powerfully detains it, without our being able to 
assign the true cause. At places where great trees cannot be com- 
manded, the power of the transplanting-machine may be called in to 
our assistance ; and that, with a good choice of subjects, spreading and 
spiral, as the different parts may require to be brought out, will accom- 
plish any design of ordinary magnitude within a short period. 

I am very far from believing that any thing which I am capable of 
designing or executing in this way is worthy of general imitation, 
although it may give useful hints to professional men. Notwithstand- 
ing, as verbal description is never so effectively aided as by the efforts 
of the pencil, I have added a sketch of the western entrance to this 
place, (plate VT.) which gives the example of a limited mew designed 
on the above principles. Owing to the very broken and untoward 
nature of the ground, and its being completely triangular, added to the 
circumstance of the turnpike-road sweeping round the lodge on the 
left-hand side of the picture, it was extremely difficult so to manage it 
as to produce any tolerable effect. But one of the chief recommenda- 
tions of the plan of improving park entrances by external wooding 
consists in this, that it surmounts all obstacles, and cures all deformi- 
ties, at the least possible expense. The means of cure, namely wood, is 
so beautiful in itself that it throws its own delightful character over 
every thing which it touches. If your ground be high, it will give it 
shelter ; if tame and flat, variety and elevation ; and if it be irregular 
and deformed, it will oftentimes convert those seeming obstructions 
into playful intricacy and unexpected beauty. 

Respecting the sketch thus presented to the picturesque reader, I 
have only further to observe, that the mansion-house here is a plain 



458 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



building, or, in modern phrase, a " Grecian" house, having a Doric 
portico with four columns ; I therefore conceived that a similar lodge, 
having a covered porch in front, with six Tuscan ones, would not be 
unappropriate. Others may prefer trellis-work as handsomer, or more 
fashionable ; but both styles have great effect when opposed to wood. 
To the pupils of the Preservative School — who, I am glad to observe, 
(October 1828,) are daily becoming more numerous in England — the 
interest of this little picture may perhaps be increased, when they are 
told that it is of late formation, having had no existence till 1822 ; and 
that in the spring of that year, and of 1823 together, the whole was 
produced by the transplanting-machine within a few weeks. 

Note IT. Page 268. 

Although from the estimate given in the text it appears that, by the 
common method of planting, park-wood may be obtained at thirteen 
times the expense of wood obtained at once by the transplanting- 
machine, yet I believe, if full justice were done to the comparative 
statement, that the superiority of the latter would appear still greater. 

There are many items which have been omitted here that would tell 
surprisingly in a correct estimate. For example, independently of the 
immediate and picturesque effect of the removed trees, on which no value 
has been put, there is great beneficial effect, for which something con- 
siderable should have been allowed — first, in the direct shelter given 
to the ground by this plantation; and secondly, by the immediately 
increased value in pasture, in consequence of the grass produce round 
each tree to a wide distance being doubled. This the manuring and 
pulverising of the soil, at the time of planting, completely brought 
about in the instance adduced ; and as those enriched spaces nearly 
touch, the pasture of the entire ground planted was fairly doubled, 
and must continue so for many years — until the roots exhaust the 
ground, or the branches overshadow it. On the other hand, although 
the expense of renewing the railing has been stated, yet no charge is 
made for keeping up the fence for thirty years. Other items might be 
mentioned, such as the inconsiderable value of the thinnings of the 
wood, under this head ; because the opening up must be performed at 
an early period, and continued to wide distances, on account of the 
severe exposure of the site, and the conferring on the trees that are to 
remain the protecting properties. 

The truth is, that it is utterly impossible to procure such profusion 
of park-wood as is desirable round a nobleman's or gentleman's resi- 
dence at a moderate cost, except by the transplanting-machine. The 



SECTION XT. 



459 



ordinary modes of planting in very large masses, and afterwards cut- 
ting out the wood required, cannot be done without immense expense. 
But the reason why the expense, when laid out, often escapes observa- 
tion is, because it is laid out gradually^ during a long course of years, 
and is therefore seldom paid by one generation. Perhaps the better 
way would be to adopt the late Mr White's system, and plant the entire 
surface. That would be a strong measure, where much revenue was to 
be sacrificed, although I have little doubt that it would pay the second 
generation, if Larch were made the staple of the wood. Yet two gene- 
rations could perhaps not easily be found, who would consent either to 
sink so large a capital as must inevitably be sunk, if the land were 
valuable, or to live for thirty or forty years in the midst of a thicket. 

Note III. Page 273. 

I regret lately to learn, that this gentleman, in the severe summer of 
last year, (1826,) had the misfortune to lose a good many of his trees, 
from not being aware of the necessity of watering abundantly during the 
first season, and securing the roots with shows or moss against the 
drought. Although half a century might pass away in our variable 
climate without the recurrence of a similar season, yet I think it of 
some importance to state in this place what happened to my own trees 
of that year, as it gives a strong view of the value of after- work, (which 
has been fully treated in the foregoing section,) and shows that it is as 
deserving of the planter's notice as any part of the treatment of wood. 

During the spring which preceded this truly tropical summer — that 
is, in February and March 1826 — I transplanted about a hundred and 
ten trees, partly in close woods and partly in the open park, from 
twenty-five to thirty feet high. Within three weeks after being 
planted, they were carefully watered and covered with shows, after the 
manner directed in Section X. By the end of May we were forced to 
commence our summer watering of the roots. That of the tops was 
never attempted ; nor was it necessary, from the copious dews which 
fell during the night, and were, of course, absorbed by the leaves. And 
as there is great command of water about the place, the former was 
continued, more or less, between three and four months ! Of the whole 
number of trees planted / lost only one, although they consisted mostly 
of Oaks and Beeches, the plants of all others the most sensitive of 
drought ! Several bushes, however, or stools of Underwood died, and I 
am persuaded that it was in consequence of over-watering — an error 
which is more easily committed than planters will perhaps believe. 
I am satisfied that, with workmen trained in the school of my 



460 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



ingenious friend IMr Smith, the trees at Ibroxhill were just as skilfully 
taken up and planted as those transferred at this place, although the 
latter might have the advantage in the preparation of the soil. But I 
am the more anxious here to state the above remarkable fact, together 
with, the circumstances which attended it, that it is impossible to press 
the importance of after-work too earnestly on the young planter's 
mind. For a similar object — namely, that of preserving the vigour of 
his trees during Ms first season — I earnestly request of him to give an 
attentive perusal to pages 823, 324, et seq. ante, containing "an 
Inquiry into the Causes of Backwardness in Trees," as he will find, 
that the circumstances above stated bear strongly on that discussion, 
and tend to illustrate it in a very striking manner. 



That the art which has been the subject of the foregoing pages will, 
ere long, be practised by many with a success and a skill superior to 
mine, I entertain no sort of doubt. I have laboured, and I trust not 
unsuccessfully, to refer to Principles of Science that which was vague 
and fortuitous in this department of rural pursuit ; and to induce 
planters to follow the Laws of Nature, by carefully studying them in 
her own ample volume, rather than by trusting to the dogmas or the 
prejudices of any class of men. What I have in this way begun, I 
hope that others better qualified may perfect, bringing superior ability, 
if not superior diligence, to the advancement of an art which requires 
only to be more fully known in order to become both popular and 
useful. For this purpose, however, I am aware that it must be 
brought into notice by those who lead tlie fashion of the day, in arts as 
well as letters. When vegetable physiology comes thus to be better 
understood, and arboriculture, as an interesting art, more generally 
studied by landowners and country gentlemen, it will no longer 
remain doubtful that any man, possessed of science, and capable of 
industry, may give immediate and certain effect to wood in any 
manner, and to any extent, he pleases. 



SECTION XII. 



Note I. Page 289. 

The Oak, the Ash, and the Elm are, in the dealer's phrase, usually 
dignified by the name of Timber Trees ; and some add the Beech to 
the number. Why this exclusive enumeration should be made I can 
see no sufficient reason in the epithet, as various other species—such as 
the Fir, the Larch, the Sycamore, the Chestnut, and many more — yield 
also very valuable timber. The three kinds first mentioned, however, 
are certainly most generally useful. 

The best practical arrangement of trees and shrubs is according to 
their respective heights, and has been very well given by Marshall, in 
his treatise on planting and rural ornament. His enumeration is as 
follows ; First, tall trees, such as rise to sixty feet or upwards — e. g. 
the Oak, Ash, Elm, Beech, Sycamore, Fir, &c. Secondly, middle 
rank trees, or such as usually rise to between forty and sixty feet — as 
the Maple, Cherry, Alder, Birch, &c. Thirdly, low trees, from thirty 
to forty feet high — as the Hawthorn, Cypress, Scarlet Maple, &c. 
Shrubs he likewise arranges in the same way, in four different classes, 
all in a manner extremely useful to the planter. — See vol. ii. p. 438. 
But for the purpose of transplanting at a large size, and producing 
immediate shelter or ornament, every forest tree, and every sort of 
shrub or underwood adapted to the climate, are proper, that have 
hardiness to bear the operation, and recover from it with facility. 

Note II. Page 291. 

The great Cowthorpe Oak, near Wetherby in Yorkshire, is, or was in 
1776, according to Dr Hunter, who resided at no great distance from it, 
sixteen yards in girth at three feet from the surface, and six-and- 
twenty close to the ground. Marsham, however, makes it somew^hat 
less. — See Hunter's edit, of Evelyn's Sylva, vol. ii. p. 208. The 
Bentley Oak, in Holt Forest, in 1759, measured thirty-four feet at seven 
feet from the ground. The great Boddington Oak, which grew at Bod- 
dington Manor farm, near the turnpike road betw^een Cheltenham and 



462 



NOTES AND ILLUSTUATIONS. 



Tewkesbury, in the Vale of Gloucester, measured more than eighteen 
yards close to the ground ; and at three feet, fourteen yards. It was 
unfortunately burned down in 1790. — See Transactions of the Bath 
Society, vol. ii. ; Marshall's Planting and Rural Ornament, vol. ii. p. 299. 
It is worthy of remark, that these wonderful trees all grow in deep rich 
meadow ground, which yields the richest and most luxuriant pasture- 
grass. 

In Scotland, we never could boast of any thing like these. Probably 
Wallace's Oak, in the Torwood, near Stirling, was among the largest 
trees we ever had, the girth of which, a short way from the ground, 
seems to have been about twelve yards. The list, preserved by Evelyn, 
of the ancient oaks existing in his time, is extremely curious. But the 
accounts which come the nearest to the present day, are by Marsham 
and Gilpin ; but particularly by the latter, in his remarks on forest 
scenery, where the examples which he quotes are illustrated by very 
interesting historical evidence. 

Note III. Page 291* 

The Querciis Rohiir pedimculata, or Stalk-fruited or upright Oak, is 
placed in the Linnaean system among the Moncecia polyandria. It is 
described by one of our most accurate botanists, as Quercus foUis 
deciduis ohlongiSy superne latiorihus, simibiis acutioribus, angulis ohtusis, 
pedimcuUs friictiferis elongatis. — Smith, Flor. Britan. iii. p. 1026. 
The Quercus Bohur sessilis, or Sessile-fruited or spreading Oak, is 
described as Foliis petiolatis deciduis ohlongis, sinuhus acutioribus 
oppositisy fructibus sessilibus. — Id. ibid. 

The Quercus muscosa, or Mossy-cup Oak, not being a native of 
Britain, has not the advantage of the same author's accuracy of deli- 
neation. It seems to have escaped the diligence of Professor Martyn, 
unless he has described it under the head of Quercus cegilops, as coming 
from the Levant, and cultivated by Miller in 1731. I have heard of trees 
of this sort, four feet in diameter, being cut down at Mount Edgecumbe 
in Devonshire ; but the American is a better and more hardy tree. It 
has long deciduous leaves, still more deeply sinuated than those of the 
two British kinds, also irregularly jagged, and having longer foot- 
stalks. The acorns are of an elongated oval shape, nearly enveloped by 
the cup, which is very large, and covered with scales, M^tli the points 
mostly bent backwards, terminating in filaments at the border of the 
cup. 

The kinds of Oak which the intelligent Dr Yule of Edinburgh, and 
the Committee of the Horticultural Society, recommend to be more 



SECTION XII. 



463 



generally introduced into plantations in Scotland, are five in number : 
First, the Evergreen Oak, Quercus ilex, already known in various 
favourable situations, at Rotbsay, at Roseneath, at Castle Kennedy, &c. 
Secondly, the Cork tree, Quercus suter ; Thirdly, the Kermes Oak, 
Quercus cocci/era — both evergreens, but far inferior in magnitude to 
the ilex. The last mentioned is the tree once so celebrated among the 
Romans, for producing the Kermes or excrescence, of which the finest 
scarlet colour was made, and which came to be preferred to the purple 
of Tyre. Fourthly, the Lace or Live Oak, Quercus virens, another 
evergreen. This species was cultivated by Miller in 1789. Among 
other recommendations to it we are told, but not by Miller, that " the 
sea breeze is favourable if not indispensable to its full growth." Credat 
Judceus ! Fifthly, the Quercitron or Dyer's Oak, Quercus tinctorial 
the only deciduous tree of the five, and of which the bark is so valuable 
for making a yellow dye. 

According to Dr Yule's own account, none of these trees are of much 
value, unless we except the Quercitron, for which reason they must be 
considered as ornamental only. Had they come from Canada or Nova 
Scotia, instead of Languedoc, Spain, and South America, I should have 
had a better opinion of them for general use. However, Dr Yule is 
entitled to the warmest thanks of all lovers of trees for his ingenious 
researches, and for recommending that patient experiments be made. 
It is by means of such trials only, that we may hope to add to our 
present stock of plants. In fact, some of the most beautiful forest- 
trees now naturalised, and assimilated to the climate, were once 
imported from other countries — for example, the English Elm and 
Horse Chestnut. 

Note IV. Page 298. 

Evelyn says, the two kinds of Oak frequent with us are the Quercus 
iirhana^ i. e. the stalk-fruited Oak which grows more upright, and, 
being clean and lighter, is fittest for timber ; and the Robur or Quercus 
Silmstris^ taking Robur for the general name, if, at least, contradistinct 
from the rest, which, as the name imports, is of a vast, robust, and 
inflexible nature ; of an hard black grain ; bearing a smaller acorn, 
and affecting to spread in branches, and to put forth his roots more 
above ground. — Vol. i. pp. 70, 71. That is to say, the upright not being 
" cleaner and lighter in the stem," is more fit for being cut up into 
planks ; as a long plank is always better than a short one. But, as to 
" robustness,'' that is strength, as to " inflexibility and hardiness of 
grain," that is toughness and closeness, the spreading oak is decidedly 
to be preferred. I believe there is no carpenter in the kingdom who 



464 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



would desire a more clear and satisfactory evidence as to which of the 
two is the superior wood. 

In another place, the same writer confirms and elucidates the cha- 
racter of the spreading oak. After allowing to the upright species the 
principal merit it possesses, namely— that of being longer and cleaner in 
the stem — he sets forth which of the two is more proper for the highest 
of all purposes, timber for the Navt/, and thus expresses himself : — "It 
is the propagation of these large spreading oaks which is especially 
recommended for the excellency of the timber, and that his Majesty's 
forests were well and plentifully stored with them ; because they 
require room and space to amplify and expand themselves, and should 
therefore be planted at more remote distances, and free from all incum- 
brances : and this upon consideration how slowly a full-grown Oak 
mounts upwards, and how speedily it spreads and dilates itself to all 
quarters, by dressing and due culture, so as above forty years' advance 
is to be gained by this only industry. And if thus his Majesty's forests 
and chases were stored, viz., with this spreading tree at handsome 
intervals, '.y which grazing might be improved, for the feeding of deer 
and cattle under them, (for such was the old Saltus^ benignly visited 
with the gleams of the sun, and adorned with the distant landscapes 
appearing through the glades and frequent alleys, nothing could be more 
ravishing. The result of all is, that upon occasion of special timber, 
there is a very great and considerable difference ; so as some oaken 
timber proves manifestly weaker, more spungy, and sooner decaying 
than other. The like may be affirmed of Ash and other kinds ; and, 
generally speaking, the close-plained is the stoutest and most per^ 
manentr—V^, 79-88. 

I think the reader will be pleased Avith this quotation from the excel- 
lent Evelyn, not only as a planter of skill, but as a writer well ac- 
quainted with the properties of timber. Moreover, he will admit, that 
nothing better could probably have been said by Gilpin or Pontey, on 
the subject of the Oak, whether in regard to pruning and culture, or 
even picturesque effect. 

The late writer of the greatest distinction who has- touched on this 
subject, is the learned Professor Martyn of Cambridge, the same v/ho 
has edited, and so highly improved Miller's Dictionary, as to render it 
in some sort a new publication. From a passage in that work, it 
appears that Du Roi, a German Botanist who wrote on forest-trees, 
had asserted that the wood of the Sessile-fruited Oak is " reddish and 
brittle," whereas that of the Stalk-fruited is "whitish and hard." 
This assertion, however it may hold good in respect to the Oaks of 
Germany or France, (the only ones which this writer could probably 



SECTION XII. 



465 



have examined) the very contrary, as we have just now seen, is true in 
regard to those of Britain. 

Professor Martyn, himself, speaks on the point hypotlietically ; for 
he merely observes, that " If what Du Roi affirms should turn out to he 
the case, (not obscurely intimating that the assertion never had been 
verified,) it behoves the planter of Oak, for timber, to attend to the dis- 
tinctions given above, and to avoid gathering acorns, for planting, from 
such trees as have the leaves on foot-stalks, with sessile fruits;" a 
sentiment in which every person of sense must agree with him. The 
fact, however, is, that from the best evidence which we possess on the 
subject, the reverse of what Du Roi asserts, as to the German Oak, 
holds good respecting ours. 

Lightfoot, a late accurate inquirer, observes in his Flora Scotica, of 
the spreading Oak, that it is more humble (that is, less tall) than the 
upright sort, and that timber is harder and higher coloured!' 
Another of the most correct of our writers, Sir James E. Smith, says, 
as applicable to both species. Arbor formosa, ligno utilissimo, dure, 
tenaci. He then adds, as to the Sessile-fruited tree, a priori differt 
minoris pretii ; that is to say, that the price given for the latter is 
inferior to that of the former, and, by implication, owing to some cause 
different from the quality of the timber, otherwise he would naturally 
have specified it. But the cause is obvious enough, and arising from 
the form of the upright Oak itself, namely far greater length and 
consequently value of plank. 

It is with regret that I perceive that some late authors, not less 
eminent for the science than the practical information which they 
possess, should have found reason to give to the public an impression 
considerably different from the above, as to the comparative value of 
our native species of Oaks. What I have stated, as the result of some 
observation and experience, I trust they will consider with the 
same candour as that with which I have endeavoured to communicate 
it. We can have but one motive, one object in view, namely — the ad- 
vancement of science, and the improvement of the woods of the king- 
dom. See Dr Yule's interesting paper, in the Memoirs of the Caledonian 
Horticultural Society, vol. ii. p. 376. Also the Rev. G. J. Hamilton's 
Essay on Woods and Plantations, in the Transactions of the Highland 
Society of Scotland, vol. v. p. 295. 

Note V. Page 295. 

This is the Esculus of Pliny or (^oyos of the Greeks, otherwise the 
cut-leaved Italian Oak. It is a native of Italy and Spain : the foliage 

2 G 



466 



NOTES AND ILLUSTKATIONS. 



is beautiful ; and it grows to an immense size in those countries. It 
was anciently dedicated to Jupiter ; and it was of its brandies that the 
Romans made their civic crowns. — Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. xii. 1, xvi. 4. 

Note VI. Page 204. 

A few years since, I applied to Messrs and Son, who are 

among the most intelligent in the trade, in order to learn if they could 
supply me with some of the late British Oak, Quercus Rohur, which 
kept its leaves till the month of May, Their answer was, that they 
never heard of an Oak possessing such a property, and they were certain 
none such existed in their possession. Finding that they usually 
got some part of their acorns from the banks of Loch Lomond, Loch 
Katrine, and about Callander, I said I was pretty sure they must 
have what I wanted ; and that, as the month of March was at this time 
past, the distinctive mark which I mentioned would be conspicuous on 
the slightest inspection. I then proposed to walk over their nurseries, 
which were at some distance ; to which they replied, that it would be 
giving me unnecessary trouble, as they were well assured that no such 
plant could be found in them. However, on my persisting, they 
readily attended me to the spot. 

As it happened, the demand for Oaks that season had been unusually 

great, and, moreover, Messrs had some extensive designs of wood 

to execute ; so that they had at this time but a few thousands remaining 
on hand. Yet, in the course of five minutes, I pointed out several 
hundred plants of the kind I wanted, which, at fifty yards' distance, 

Messrs took for Beeches^ nor were they convinced of their error 

till they went close up to the plants. However, as they are very 
obliging men, they civilly directed the plants to be picked out for me. 
They thanked me for my information as to the aboriginal Oak, which 
they acknowledged was curious : but, as they truly observed, it could 
be of no use to the trade while the importance of it was unknown ; 
for their customers, of course, put just as much value on one kind as 
on another. 

Note VII. Page 805. 

The Duke of Athole, for one, has, I believe, little less than t^venty 
thousand acres of land under wood, planted within the last fourscore 
years. The Duke of Argyle, Lord Breadalbane, Lord Fife, and others, 
have an immense extent of woodland, which yields them a large revenue. 



SECTION XII. 



467 



Note VIII. Page 808. 

It is a thing well known to any person who has attended to the 
subject, that, extensive as the business of arboriculture in Scotland is, 
nothing can be more injudicious than the way in which it is managed. 
A principle is adopted, completely at variance with the professed object 
in view ; and that principle is carried through with such ill-judged per- 
sistency, as almost wholly to defeat the object. 

A space of ground is selected, the richest that can be found near a 
great cit}^ — usually garden ground, that has been in cultivation for ages. 
A profusion of rich manure is immediately poured into it, to a potato 
or turnip crop, after which acorns and other tree seeds are thinly sown 
in beds, and seedlings of every sort rush up as close as they can stand 
together. After a twelvemonth or two, as the case may be, these seed- 
lings are transplanted into rows as densely compacted ; and he who 
knows the judicious distances, whether between the rows or the plants, 
prescribed b}^ the Millers, the Boutchers, or the Hanburys, as essen- 
tially necessary to their success, will stand aghast at the contrast here 
exhibited. At the end of two years more of a severe struggle of the 
weak with the strong, in a soil and climate equally hostile to both, the 
whole are planted out, in the most sterile tracts and the highest eleva- 
tions. And what is the nurseryman's object, by so strange and 
unnatural a process ? Why, to raise, as he is expected to do, the 
greatest possible number of plants on the smallest extent of surface, and 
to furnish them to his customers at the lowest possible price. 

In respect to the style of plants so injudiciously drawn up, their 
fibrousness of root, their strength of stem, their number of side-branches, 
the utter deficiency in these, and other properties which they should 
possess, will appear at a single glance to the intelligent reader. But 
to the nurseryman, these things are of no consequence whatever. He 
knows very well that his employers, in ninety-nine cases out of a hun- 
dred, can form no judgment on such points. Noblemen and gentlemen 
may know something of breeding or of feeding stock ; but a knowledge 
of wood is not the fashion of the day. They must, in that department, 
see through the eyes and hear through the ears of their gardeners ; and 
almost every gardener in the kingdom owes his situation, directly or 
indirectly, to the nurseryman. Without therefore supposing a degree 
of virtue that is superhuman in this class of men, we can conceive no 
great improvement of the system to originate with them ; and we may 
easily imagine how the extensive plantations, now in progress for 
years, are and have been supplied with plants-. As to the scale of mag- 
nitude on which this branch of trade is conducted in Edinburgh, it 



468 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



may be curious to add, that one company alone in tliat city, besides 
supplying a great part of Scotland with, seeds and nursery plants, 
exports yearly some millions of the latter, for the use of the west and 
south-west of England, as well as Wales.* 

The necessary result of such a state of things requires little descrip- 
tion and no comment. From the unwholesome atmosphere of a per- 
nicious hot-bed, these tender plants, when suddenly transferred to com- 
mons and mountains, sicken and decay. Without any portion of the 
vigour inherent in their species, they have all the delicacy and weakness 
derived from a forced and adventitious mode of culture. If they survive 
the change, they languish for years, ere they acquire strength or con- 
stitution suited to their new situation. Thus, the progress of wood, 
which is slow to a proverb, is rendered slower still, and more uncertain, 
by such severe and unnatural treatment. If we add to this, the imper- 
fect acquaintance possessed in general by planters themselves with the 
nature and properties of the grand staple of all woods, the Oak, and the 
proper adaptation of its different species to different situations and 
climates, we have a true, but not a very flattering picture of the value 
of our plantations to posterity. 

In making this statement, which a regard for truth compels me to 
make, I need scarcely repeat what has been already stated, that no 
reflection can possibly be intended by it on the nurserymen of Scotland, 
either aggregately or individually. It is true they are unhappily 
situated, under the influence of circumstances which they cannot easily 
control, and of habits which they have no direct temptation to relin- 
quish. Yet respectable and enterprising as they unquestionably are in 
their present vocation, it strikes me with wonder, that while some 
portion of the most eminent of them see and lament the extensive evils, 
of which I have given but a faint outline, not a man has been found of 
sufficient energy and vigour of character to attemj)t to place the trade 
upon a better footing. 

When we consider that the nurseryman may in some sort be said to 
cater for the planter, and that the planter plants, not for himself only, 

* It appears that our English neighbours, as a sort of reciprocation of 
courtesy, prefer su.ndry articles of our manufacture, intellectual and artificial, 
to their own. Of the former sort, novels, for example, and delineations of Hfe and 
manners, and muslins, and nursery plants, are supposed to be produced no 
where so well as in Scotland ; from which the annual export, in all the branches, 
is to an enormous extent, and large fortunes in consequence have been made 
in them. One gentleman, in the nursery department, is said to have realised 
above £80,000, which is pretty well for Edinburgh ; and others, no doubt, have 
succeeded in proportion. 



SECTION XII. 



469 



but for posterity, it follows that the office, and the way in which its 
duties are discharged, must be extremely interesting to the community. 
Instead of being a mere dealer in seeds and plants, a nurseryman in this 
country should be a man of science, endued with liberal views and 
pretty general acquirements. He should be a botanist, a gardener, a 
planter, an agriculturist, and a person, withal, who has had the benefit 
of a liberal, if not an academical education. He should above all, 
if possible, be an honest man. To raise cheap plants is one thing, to 
raise the hest and healthiest plants is a thing very different ; and I am 
persuaded, were another Boutcher now to arise in Scotland, that instead 
of being allowed to languish unknown, at Comely Garden or elsewhere, 
and die at last in neglect and indigence, he would rapidly make a 
fortune. Such is the present wealth and intelligence of the country, 
that if he only trod in the footsteps of his honest and unpretending 
predecessor, and regarded all considerations as nothing in comparison 
with the furnishing of superior articles, he would soon attract into his 
hands half the business of the kingdom. To such a nurseryman as 
this, a better price indeed would be paid ; but it would be the best-spent 
money that men of land-property could lay out. The rapid progress, 
nay the obvious health and vigour of woods planted in consequence, 
would increase in a three or four- fold ratio ; a ratio quite inconceivable 
to any one who has not verified the fact. Yet it is a fact which we 
may easily verify, by taking the trouble to inspect, and compare with 
others, the plantations of any nobleman or gentleman who is judicious 
and knowing enough to raise his own nursery-plants ; but his scale of 
operations, to admit of an efficient arrangement of this sort, must be 
pretty considerable. 

What, then, will effect the reform in our arboricultural system which 
we so much desiderate ? Probably public opinion alone ; and nothing 
less, as far as I can see, than the same influence to which I have more 
than once appealed, that of the great Agricultural Society of Scotland, 
is capable of bringing that powerful engine to bear upon the object. Of 
treatises on woods and plantations there is not any want at present. 
But were the Society to hold out premiums to nurserymen, for raising 
the hardiest and best plants of various kinds and ages, such as showed 
the healthiest character in respect to roots, fibres, stem, bark, and other 
properties, the eyes of planters would at once be opened to the vast im- 
portance of having such materials to work with ; and in fact, within a 
short time, none but such plants would be valued, or would sell in the 
market. 

Of late years we have seen, with unmixed satisfaction, men of the 
highest rank, wealth, and talents, successfully apply themselves to 



470 



NOTES AND ILLTJSTEATIONS. 



agriculture. The breeding and feeding of stock, as intimately connected 
with it, have also practically engaged their attention, and called forth 
their assiduity. Who knows, but that trees might next become as 
favourite an object with the higher orders, were the tide of fashion to 
set in that way ? Persons of wealth and property, if they really studied 
the subject, would then find that, in judging of their woods, the medium 
of their gardeners was no longer wanted ; and instead of borrowing 
from that class of men antiquated prejudices and popular errors, they 
would be enabled to give instructions to them, practical and scientific, 
obtained from sources which are beyond their reach. "With such in- 
structors, and under such patrons, the art of planting would speedily 
improve, and skill would in time derive lessons from experience. The 
age of the Millers and the Boutchers would ere long return, and, with it, 
knowledge presiding over arboricultural labour. The profession of the 
nurseryman, in such a case, could not fail to rise from the level of an 
ordinary trade to the rank of a liberal study. Men of intelligence and 
information would soon engage in it, as a field not unworthy of their 
talents, where fame, as well as wealth, would be sure to remunerate 
useful exertion. 

I observed in the text, that this subject might deserve a separate 
essay ; and here is, in fact, a sort of disquisition not necessarily con- 
nected with the transplanting art. I do not know, important as it is, 
whether it will do any good ; but I will give it its chance with a dis- 
cerning public. 



SECTION XIII. 



Note I. Page 3] 0. 

The Ash, according to the arrangement of Linnaeus, is ranked under 
the genus Polygamia dioecia. The common Ash, or Fraxinus excel- 
sior^ has small- sized leaves, which are serrated, with flowers having no 
petals {Foliolis serratis, floribus apetalis.^ — Linn. Spec. Plant. 1509. 
Fraxinus excelsior, foliolis serratis^ fiorihus calyce corroldque desti- 
tutis. — Smith, Flor. Brit. t. ii. p. 13. Of the American species of 
this tree, there is one which seems particularly hardy and valuable, 
I mean the Fraxinus americana, or White Ash, as described by 
Willdenow and Michaux. It endures the severest colds of Canada and 
Nova Scotia, and unites all the properties for which the Common 
Ash is so remarkable — strength, toughness, and durability. That it 
would transplant well, I have little doubt ; but I cannot speak from 
my own experience. 

I entirely agree w^ith the ingenious Dr Yule, in the opinion that 
the Ash family is, as yet, but imperfectly known to naturalists ; and 
that the seemingly valuable properties of the white, the red, and the 
blue American species well deserve to be investigated. — See his inter- 
esting Report of a Committee of the Caledonian Horticultural Society, 
of experiments on the naturalisation of useful and ornamental plants 
in Scotland, (as already alluded to, pp. 462-3, under the head Oak.) 
Horticul. Misc. vol. ii. pp. 395-397. 

Note II. Page 313. 

The heritable or territorial jurisdictions which subsisted in Scotland 
from remote times, and were not entirely abolished till after the rebel- 
lion in 1745, conferred very extensive powers on the lesser as well as 
the greater barons. In some cases, they extended to life and death, 
and in others to minor punishments, such as that of "the Juggs" 
alluded to in the text. 

This term is obviously derived from the Latin jugum, and is there- 
fore of Saxon, not Celtic origin. It seems surprising that Dr Jamie- 



472 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



son should be rather inclined to derive it from the Danish " kaak," 
which appears to have little affinity to it. The Juggs consisted of an 
iron collar, firmly fixed to the trunk of one of the largest trees about 
the castle or residence of the baron, usually an Oak or an Ash. It was 
placed about seven feet from the ground ; and the breadth of the collar 
was about three inches. This collar was divided into two parts at the 
centre, which last was secured by a strong staple, firmly driven into 
the tree, with a hasp accommodated for a padlock. Culprits, or others 
falling under the laird's displeasure, were elevated to this perilous situa- 
tion, with a small wooden stool under their feet. Their necks were 
then secured in the collar, and the key delivered to the laird. If they 
conducted themselves with becoming penitence, and cautiously kept the 
stool in its place, they were usually released within a couple of days or 
so, half dead with cold and hunger. But if by their own violence, 
or the malice of some enemy in the dark, the stool was kicked away, 
they were sure to suffer strangulation by hanging, within a short 
period . 

When such an accident occurred, little notice was taken, as it was 
alwa^'s easy to refer it to the cause first-mentioned. This was a sum- 
mary mode of punishment, far superior to the stocks in England. It 
usually produced the most marvellous improvement on the choleric and 
refractory, and brought even the most obstinate and wayward within 
the pale of feudal discipline. It certainly could be applied, si fas esset, 
with singularly good eff"ect, to more classes of offenders than one, in the 
present day. 

Such were the Juggs, as I remember to have seen them, on the 
venerable tree commemorated in the text. It was probably five hundred 
years old at the time it fell, an event which took place in the year 
1771, when it strewed the ground far and wide with its massy frag- 
ments. The name still borne by an eminence, about half a mile distant 
from the tree, namely " The Gallows Hill," sufficiently attests, that 
they could hang in these times in the ordinary way also, as often as 
occasion called for that extreme punishment. 

Note III. Page 813, 

I regret to observe, that this elegant tree seems to have |become 
rather rare in Scotland, although it is still to be found about old places, 
but always of considerable age. There are some fine ones at Glammis 
Castle, the seat of the Earl of Strathmore. The finest and most mag- 
nificent tree that I know of this sort, is at Touch House in Stirling- 
shire, belonging to the family of Seton, which is supposed to be at the 



SECTION XIII. 



473 



head of that ancient name. It grows in deep loam, in rather a sheltered 
situation, by favour of the old house and tower, and is still in high 
vigour of health. 

This grand tree is between eighty and ninety feet high. It measures 
twelve feet nine inches in girth at four feet from the ground, and 
ascends with a straight and lofty stem to the height of nearly thirty 
feet, without a branch. After this it divides into six great arms or 
limbs, forming a most superb and umbrageous top, and covering with 
its shade a large space of ground. The beautiful intertwisting of its pen- 
dulous branches and spray, so strikingly in the style of vine' tendrils, 
is on an immense scale ; as those light and floating masses appear clus- 
tering below the general line of the top, for eighteen and twenty feet 
down, of course not far from the ground. It is not easy to figure an 
object where so much grandeur is united with so much lightness and 
elegance of form. Were it not that this singular tree is a very shy 
bearer of seed, plants would long since have been raised from it. I 
entertain no doubt of its age being referable to a period as far back as 
the time when the Setons first obtained the place — that is, before the 
middle of the fifteenth century, and in the reign of King James II. 

Note IV. Page 99. 

The Elm is placed, by the Linnsean arrangement, in class and oi der, 
Pentandria digynia. The first or indigenous species is supposed by 
some to be the OpLTrrekea of Theophrastus : but it is not easy to give 
botanical descriptions, corresponding to the practical and plain classi- 
fication which has been adopted in the text. Those who follow Lin- 
nsaeus, such as Dr Hunter and others, describe the common or indigenous 
British Elm as uhnus vulgatissima ml montana^ folio lato scahro, and all 
the other kinds as varieties. Miller and some other writers describe 
the broad and the narrow, the smooth and the rough leaved, as distinct 
species. Late botanists, however, make only two kinds ; first, what 
they call the common Elm, U, campestris, or rough-leaved Witch Elm ; 
secondly, the Witch Hazel, U. montana, or very broad-leaved Elm ; 
and the fine narrow-leaved or English Elm — U. minm\ folio augusto 
scahro — only a variety of the first. In this way, they describe the 
Ulma campestrisy as Foliis duplicato serratis scabris, hasi incequalihus, 
florihus, suhsessilibus congestis ; and the U. montana, as Foliis duplicato 
serratis acuminatisy hasi incequalihtis, fiorihus pedunculatis effusis. See 
Smith, Flor. Britan. tom. i. pp. 281, 282. To me, I must confess, that 
by far the most intelligible account of the different species of this tree 
is to be found in Miller's Dictionary, edit. 1759, et seq. ; an account 



474 



KOTES AKD ILLUSTEATIONS. 



which Professor Martyri, with greater science, has by no means improved 
to the ordinary reader. 

Amidst this complication, the unlearned planter will find some dif- 
ficulty in discriminating between the only three kinds with which it 
is important for him to be well acquainted — namely, the indigenous 
Witch or Scotch Elm, the Witch Hazel, and the English Elm. 

The first or Scotch Elm grows to a very large size, and abounds in 
the north-western counties of England, and in Scotland. The bark of 
the young branches is smooth and very tough, and young trees often 
suffer severely by being stripped of it by boys, or other idle persons ; 
but that of the old trees cracks, and is rough. The branches spread, 
and do not grow so erect as those of the English Elm, but will form an 
extensive top, if they have air and light. The leaves are rough, and 
doubly sawed on their edges. Their base is unequal, about three inches 
long and two broad, of a dark green colour, and they stand upon short 
foot-stalks. The flowers come out usually in March, sometimes so 
late as the beginning of April, upon the slender twigs standing in 
clusters ; they are of a deep red colour, and are succeeded by oval- 
bordered capsules, containing one roundish seed, which ripens in May. 
But as the leaves do not appear till late in the spring, it is not de- 
sirable to plant or transplant the tree to situations near the mansion- 
house. 

The second sort (which some consider as a variety only of the first) 
has received its name of Witch Hazel, from the resemblance of the 
young shoots and leaves to those of the Hazel. It grows also to a 
spreading tree of great magnitude. The bark of the young shoots, as in 
the former, is very smooth and tough ; it is of a yellowish brown colour, 
and spotted white. The leaves are oval, and, when in a state of luxu- 
riance, nearly six inches long, and three and a half broad ; they are 
unequally sawed in their edges. The flowers grow more diffiised to- 
wards the ends of the twigs. They have long leafy empalements of a 
green colour, and appear in the spring before the leaves. The seeds 
ripen in the end of May, or beginning of June. 

The third sort, or English Elm, attains a much greater height, and 
grows much more erect, than the two foregoing. It has oval acute- 
pointed leaves, which are doubly sawed and unequal at their base. 
The flowers are of a purplish red colour, and come out by the beginning 
or middle of March ; but no seeds ever appear on them. Any further 
description of the narrow-leaved or English Elm is unnecessary, as it 
never can be mistaken for either of the other kinds. 

Dr Yule, in his interesting paper (published in the Edinburgh 
Horticultural Transactions) more than once noticed above, mentions 



SECTION XIII. 



475 



another species, which Is well worth being tried in the milder climates of 
Scotland, or, as he thinks, in some of the sheltered valleys of the High- 
lands — namely, the White Elm of North America. From the surpris- 
ing magnificence of the tree as represented by Michaux, and the cold 
latitudes in which he found it to thrive, it appears to deserve the 
attention of every one interested in the ornamental branch of planting. 
Probably, also, the Red Elm of Canada is worthy of the same encomium. 

The broad-leaved or Scotch Elm is always propagated by the seed; 
the narrow-leaved or English, uniformly by suckers ; and the most 
attentive observers never having known it to produce seed, affords 
strong presumptive evidence, as has been noticed in the text, of its 
foreign origin. From the circumstance of its being so uncommonly 
given to throw out suckers, nurserymen have devised the method of 
engrafting it on the broad-leaved, which checks that propensity. This 
practice has likewise another good effect, and that is, that it makes the 
narrow-leaved more hardy, and capable of succeeding on much poorer 
land than it would otherwise require. 

Note V. Page 315. 

As the whole Elm family require a deep soil, they never reach the 
same great size in Scotland as they do in England. Cook, who may 
be called our first writer on planting of any consideration, mentions a 
Witch Elm, in Sir Walter Bagot's park in Staffordshire, which, after 
two men had been five days felling it, lay forty yards in length, and was, 
at the stool, seventeen feet in diameter. It broke, in its fall, fourteen 
loads ; it had forty-eight in the top ; it yielded eighty pairs of naves, 
eight thousand six hundred and sixty feet of boards and planks ; it 
cost ten pounds , seventeen shillings the sawing, (equal to about forty 
pounds at present ;) and the whole was estimated at ninety-seven tons ! 
" This (says Evelyn) was certainly a goodly stick !" Marsham, in his 
curious account of the growth and age of trees, published in the Bath 
Society's papers, mentions a Witch Elm, near Bradley Church, Suff'olk, 
which in 1767 measured twenty-six feet three inches at five feet from 
the ground ; and Professor Martyn notices others that exceeded four- 
and-twenty feet, or eight feet in diameter. But we never had any 
thing like these north of the Tweed. 

Note VI. Page 316. 

Probably one of the finest and most vigorous narrow- leaved Elms in 
England stands in the vale of Gloucester, in the parish of Church-down, 



476 



NOTES AND ILLUSTEATIONS. 



and on the road between Cheltenham and Tewkesbury, within a few 
hundred yards of the site of the great Boddington Oak, ah-eady men- 
tioned. It is known by the name of " Piffe's Ehn and the turnpike 
gate, the fence of which is fastened at one end to the tree, takes it name 
from it. When Marshall saw this Elm in 1783, its smallest girth was 
sixteen at five feet from the ground, and the height might be eighty or 
ninety feet. At ten feet above the ground it formerly threw out large 
arms, which had been lopped ; but they were then replaced by monstrous 
shoots, rising probably to seventy or eighty feet high, with a proportion- 
able extent of top ; and exhibiting altogether, as he says, " one of the 
grandest trees he had seen." This, however, was not so much from its 
actual magnitude at the time, as from the fulness of growth, and the 
promise which it gave of rapid progression. 

At present, in 1824, after an interval of forty-one years, it mea- 
sures (as I learn from a friend near the spot) thirty feet in girth, at 
two feet and a half from the ground. And my reason for noticing 
it in this place, is the same as that given by Marshall — namely, that 
by recording its increase from time to time, posterity may be enabled 
to estimate the rapid progress of what in all likelihood, in such a soil 
and climate, will become among the greatest trees that England has to 
boast of. — See Rur. Ornam. vol. ii. p. 430. There is an English Elm 
in Hyde Park, one of a very fine row, probably planted when Le Notre 
laid out the park, in Charles the Second's time, of which the stem is 
considerably larger than PifFe's Elm ; but it has been long hollow ; 
and both the head and the stem show visible signs of decay. 

Note VII. Page 8l7. 

See Profitahle Planter, p. 110. It appears that this species — ^namely 
the upright or erect Elm — is not a new variety, as it was known to Han- 
bury, and is described by him under his seventh head. — See Body of 
Planting, vol. i. p. 200. 

Note VIII. Page 821. 

For a long time the Beech, in many parts of England, was scarcely 
considered as a "timber tree.'' — Before Bradley's time, particularly in 
Hertfordshire, as he informs us, it was absolutely denied a place among 
that privileged number. But a remarkable trial, before the Barons of 
Exchequer, about 1725, between a certain landowner and a clergyman 
respecting tithes, established the right in favour of the Beech, by satis- 
factory proving its timber uses in mill-work, keels of vessels, house 



SECTION XIII. 



477 



building, and the like. " In Buckinghamshire (he says,) after twenty 
years, it becomes tithe-free ; but if any Beech is felled, and another 
from the same grows up, this is to be tithed whenever it is cut down." 
— Chiltern and Vale Farming^ pp. 93, 94. 

Note IX. Page 321. 

The Beech had its name of Fagus from the Greek cjiayos, (Dor. <prjyoSf) 
from ^r]y(o, to eat — because men at first lived on the mast of trees, 
before the use of corn. According to the Linnsean arrangement, this 
tree stands in the class Monoecia polyandria^ and is botanically de- 
scribed as Fagus silvatica^foliis ovatis obsolete serratis. — Hort. Cliff, p. 
447. An accurate botanist characterises it as follows : Fagus silvatica, 
foUis ovatis obsolete serratis, acideis fructus simplicihus. — Smith, Flor. 
Britan. t. iii. p. 1028. 

Bradley and other writers make mention of two varieties of this 
tree. The first they call the White or Silver Beech, from the colour 
of its wood, or of its bark, or probably of both ; and the second they 
name the Black-grained Beech, for similar reasons. To the former they 
also give the appellation of the Mountain Beech ; as it is supposed to 
thrive best in elevated situations, and on the sides of steep and chalky 
declivities. The latter they name the Wild or Vale Beech, from its 
being adapted to the deep loam of the Chiltern country, where it will 
make profitable returns. As for the nurserymen, with their usual in- 
curiousness, they never inquire after these varieties, however interesting 
they may be to the planter, but raise and sell them together as only one 
sort. Besides these two principal varieties, there are the two others, 
well known to nurserymen — the one with white, the other with yellow 
stripes ; but they are both mere shrubs. There is also the purple- 
copper- coloured Beech of Germany, which is now common as an 
ornamental tree in our plantations. 

Note X. Page 322. 

Caesar, in his descriptive sketch of Britain, says that the woods of 
that country are nearly the same as those of Gaul, only that the former 
are without the Spruce Fir and the Beech ; Materia cujusque generis, 
prcEter Fagum et Ahietem. — De Bel. Gal. lib. v. 12. Lightfoot doubts if 
the Beech be a native of Scotland ; and Marshall is of opinion, that in 
the northern counties of England it is not indigenous. We know that 
it is not found in the northern provinces of Sweden ; and that it is little 
more than a century since it began to be cultivated in Scotland at all. 



478 



KOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Note XI. Page 822. 

Besides these properties, the Beech is well known to make excellent 
fuel. The mast, also, is nutritive to animals, especially to swine and 
deer ; and an oil is expressed from it, (as Dr Yule informs us,) which, 
if properly manufactured, and the seeds freed from the husk, is of ex- 
cellent quality, and nearly equal to oil of Olives. — See Mem. Caledon. 
Hort. Soc. vol. ii. p. 285. There is, however, one purpose to which the 
leaves of this tree are most usefully applied (as I have myself seen in 
other countries, and as is noticed by Evelyn,) viz., mattresses for beds ; 
and I wish that the practice were better known in Britain. From my 
own experience at this moment, I can recommend these mattresses, as 
greatly more elastic, cleanly, and more durable than those of straw, if 
the leaves be gathered before frost affects them. Taking this property 
of the Beech, therefore, together with the fulness of its shade, it may be 
truly said of it, 

" Silva domus, cuhilia frondes.'" 
Note XII. Page 329. 

Observing that one of the great excellencies of the Beech lay in ac- 
commodating itself to soils that were very light, as well as to such as were 
stiff and cold, I conceived the idea, about four-and-forty years since, of 
bringing it in aid of the thorn, by mixing them together in field hedges, 
and thus uniting the closeness of the one with the prickly quality of 
the other. In these sterile soils, I tried the proportion of three Beeches 
to a thorn, which admirably succeeded ; and I was so much pleased with 
the rich winter shelter produced by the mixture, that I gradually 
adopted it for fences on all soils, however rich. On those of tolerable 
quality, the thorn of course was allowed to predominate, putting two 
and even three to a Beech. Thus, in good lands, the thorn became the 
staple of the hedge, and the Beech where it was poor ; whether poverty 
arose from a deficiency or a superabundance of moisture. This practice 
I commenced in 1780 and 1781, when nothing of the kind had been 
attempted elsewhere, as far as I know ; and have continued it since, 
over a pretty extensive surface. At present I have between twenty and 
thirty miles of hedges so executed in very various soils, and all in a state 
of greater vigour than I am persuaded could have been obtained by the 
Quick alone. 

With agriculturists, the great problem to be solved respecting fences 
appears to be, how to raise a hedge on miserably poor lands, under the 
value of 6s, and 8s. per acre, where there is no stone to enclose them. 



SECTION XIII. 



479 



And there is another difficulty almost as great — viz., to discover some 
plant, or plants, together with the method of planting them, by which 
gaps or deficiences in old hedges, even in the best land, may be filled up; 
where the hedges have nearly decayed through neglect or ill usage, or 
where they have exhausted the pabulum allotted to them. By an atten- 
tive application and management of the Beech, I have reason to believe 
that both of these desiderata have been completely supplied. Hedges in 
my possession, on land worth not more than 7s. or 8s. per acre, are seen to 
grow singularly close and vigorous ; and others, which were in the worst 
possible condition, have by this means been restored to a healthy and fen- 
cible condition, so as, within three years, to turn the Highland bullock, 
(Scottice Stot,) by making them completely impervious to his eye : for 
a Highland Stot, unless driven, will rarely break down what he cannot 
see through ; although the reverse of this is the fact as to the Highland 
sheep. In a word, I consider the introduction of the Beech into field 
hedges as the most important improvement that has been made for a 
century on this branch of rural economy. But to give any idea of its 
various application and particular management would require a separate 
Essay. 

I have reason to think that the art of mixing the Beech with the 
Thorn in common field hedges originated with myself. Wherever it 
has been found, it could always be traced with certainty to LanarTcsMre. 
At first it was adopted by my neighbours, from my practice in this 
country. From thence it was carried to Ayrshire and Yorkshire, by the 
late ingenious Mr White, the well-known landscape gardener, (to whom 
the merit of spreading the knowledge of some of the most useful rural 
arts is due,) and from thence all over Scotland, and the north of 
England. 

That Beech hedges were currently raised in England, for parterres 
and gardens, as far back as the time of Henry VIII., and further — that 
is, in the beginning of the sixteenth century — can be distinctly proved 
from our early writers. But I believe I am the first person who 
mixed the Thorn with the Beech in hedges in th e open fields or applied 
the practice to Agricultural purposes. Should it be claimed by any 
other person, he should show that he practised it premoiisly to 1780 ; 
as in that year I had about half a mile of mixed hedges executed ; and 
before 1785 I had several miles. In a few years after, the whole estate 
was enclosed with them. Should the honours of the improvement be 
denied to me hereafter, I can only say, Sic ws 7ion vohis, S^c. 

In the course of a series of experiments, which I from that time com- 
menced, on various plants for the improvement of hedges, I never found 
any that were of much general use, the Beech excepted. The Horn- 



480 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



beam and the Barberry are the best ; but they require very good land. 
The Spruce Fir on peat moss may be trained into a hedge, where nothing 
but the Alder and the Birch will vegetate. If ornament rather than 
strength is required, the Beech and the Evergreen Privet form a good 
union in summer, and a fine contrast in winter. But the most beauti- 
ful of all hedges near a gentleman's residence, where a little nicety of 
keeping is not grudged, is composed of the Barberry and the Beech, 
equal parts — a mixture, probably, that can be seen only in my own 
possession. 

Note XIII. Page 880. 

" Dorty," in the Scottish dialect, signifies, as nearly as may be, pet- 
tish, capricious, wayward ; but those words fail to convey the meaning 
fully, as applied to plants. — See Jamieson^s Diet, in voc. 

Note XIV. Page 831. 

When this remedy first occurred to me, I was persuaded that I had 
struck out something quite new, as well as useful. But, alas ! there is 
little or nothing new under the sun ! for happening to look into old 
Ralph Austen, who wrote on fruit and forest trees two hundred years 
ago, I found the following directions for young plants of the former 
kind. Stay not, (says he,) as the custom is, till November, or after, 
before you transplant ; for the best time is about the latter end of Sep- 
tember. It's a great advantage to remove plants betime ; for such grow 
a while after in their roots before winter, and thereby not only preserve 
themselves in winter, but also make some preparation against the spring, 
which those removed in winter cannot doe. Stay not, therefore, till the 
leaves fall, ere you remove, although they may be removed then witli 
good successe ; but it is not so good at that time as before. The ancient 
proverb is If a growing tree you would lime, let him carry Ms green 
leaves to Ms grave."" — P. 62. How old the proverb is, this writer does 
not say. Pliny, I think, has nothing of the kind in his work ; although 
I should not wonder if Cato or Columella had been acquainted with it. 
But Austen's reasons for recommending this method are deserving of 
attention. They comprise nearly the theory which I had formed to my- 
self, in attempting it ; and it is substantially the same as is found so suc- 
cessful with the laurel, the holly, and the evergreens. 



SECTION XIV. 



Note I. Page 834. 

The Maple, in the Linnfean system, is of the class and order Polygamia 
Monoecia ; and the Sycamore or greater Maple is thus described by 
botanists — Acer Psuedo-Platamis,foliis quinquelohis inmqualiter serratis, 
racemis pendulis, florihus aecemosis, — See Lin. Sp. Plant, 1495. Smith 
Flor. Britan. t. i. p. 422. Sir James E. Smith calls it vix indigena. 
It has two varieties, now first noticed — the early and the late — of which 
the chief characteristics are, that the former comes out from a fortnight 
to three weeks before the latter. 

Note II. Page 885. 

Mr Pontey says that the Sycamore " will thrive in a considerable 
degree of wet." This, I apprehend, is erroneous ; because, if what is 
stated in the text, that " a light and porous subsoil is necessary to its 
vigorous growth," be true, (which I conceive it to be,) it follows that it 
will not thrive in wet ; because all situations must be dry of which the 
subsoil is light and porous. This may be assumed as a correct theory : 
and wherever there are appearances to the contrary, the inexperienced 
planter may rely upon it that there is some deception, as there can be 
no effect without a corresponding cause. 

To the universality of this rule I thought I had, some years since, 
found a remarkable exception in some old Sycamores at this place, 
which are from three to four feet in diameter. Their age happens to 
stand on record, and is traced as far back as the battle of Langside, 
which took place in 1568, when the unfortunate Queen Mary was 
defeated by the Earl of Moray, and forced to take refuge in England. 
In this action my then ancestor commanded a troop of the Regent's 
horse, and, by suddenly occupying the hill of Langside, turned the 
fortune of the day. The trees in question grow upon a rich deep loam, 
with a stiff and retentive clay, as I had conceived, at bottom, which 
had been frequently turned up ; so that there seemed no reason to 
doubt the fact that here was one example, at least, of this sort of tree 

2 H 



482 



KOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



succeeding with a retentive subsoil. But, happening accidentally to 
make a deep pit near the place, I discovered that this clay, which I had 
taken for the subsoil, was merely one of those accidental veins or argilla- 
ceous strata, of twelve or fourteen inches in thickness, which so often 
occur in coal countries ; and that the real substratum, which lay imme- 
diately under it, was a bed of pure sand more than six feet deep. 

Note III. Page 337. 

The Norway Maple is said to be Acer platanoides, foliis quinquelohis 
acuminatis acute, dentatis glahris, florihus cori/mbosis. — Lin. Spec. Plant. 
1496. 

Note IV. Page 388. 

The tree here alluded to, is the Lace or Lime Oak of America, {Q. 
virens.) I by no means say, that it is impossible that the sea-breeze is 
requisite to bring it to perfection, but from what we know of the nature 
and properties of trees, it certainly appears improbahle in a very high 
degree. 1 trust, therefore, that I may be forgiven for the disposition to 
incredulity respecting this matter which I have taken the liberty to 
manifest, in Note III. at page 463 ante. An ingenious and respectable 
writer, Dr Yule, (in the memoirs of the Caledonian Horticultural 
Society, vol. ii. p. 3/8,) seems to have first mentioned the tree alluded 
to. Lace Oak, and its supposed extraordinary properties, on the autho- 
rity of Michaux, and other French authors ; and the account is 
implicitly copied by another late respectable writer on plantations 
— Rev. G. J. Hamilton, (Trans. Highl. Soc, vol. v. p. 306,) without 
remark or animadversion. Query ; are these ingenious writers practical 
planters themselves ? 

It is to be regretted that, on an art like planting, where the errors 
we commit can be discovered only after much loss and disappointment, 
and the lapse of years, that any thing should be written by men of 
science that is not strictly practical. It is, however, a material point 
that they should distinguish in their writings between what is conjec- 
tural and what is certain in such an art — between what may succeed, 
and what actually lias succeeded in the execution. No one would 
rejoice more heartily than myself to find it proved, by actual experi- 
ment, that a plantation of the Quercus virens had vigorously flourish- 
ed, and come to maturity, on the margin of the Atlantic or the 
German Ocean, while it languished or altogether failed in the internal 
districts ; and, in the same way, I should rejoice to learn that the 
Norway Maple as effectually resisted the sea-breeze as the Sycamore : 



SECTION XIY. 



483 



things of which the latter seems considerably the more probable of the 
two. But it is proper that, in all such cases, the necessary experiments 
should be made by nurserymen or planters, and the facts verified in 
a sufficient manner, before any thing new in practice be recommended 
to the public. Were such a principle adopted by writers in general on 
this subject, their treatises would gain more credit than they have 
hitherto done with the practical planter, and the planter would benefit 
more frequently by their treatises. 

Note V. Page 888. 

The fact is, that as the male flowers of the Chestnut are collected in 
long ratkins, and those of the Beech are globular ; and further, as the 
fruit of the latter is triangular, there is sufficient reason to treat of 
them as separate trees. The class and order of both is, according to the 
Linnaean arrangement, Monoecia polyandria^ and is thus described by 
botanists. — Fagus castanea, foliis lanceolatis acuminato-serratis^ suhtas 
Qiudis, aculeis fructus compositis implexis. — Linn. Spec. Plant. 1416. — 
Smith, Flor. Britan., t. iii. p. 1027. Prof. Marty n in voce. 

Note VI. Page 339. 

Evelyn is of opinion, from the great age of which the Chestnut 
appeared to be in his time, that it is a native of Britain ; in which, how- 
ever, he is mistaken. The learned Dr Ducarel adopted the same senti- 
ment on similar grounds ; and in a celebrated controversy with the 
late Daines Barrington, before the Royal Society, maintained that the 
tree was indigenous. He produced evidence as old as Henry II., in a 
charter of that period, by which Roger Earl of Hereford grants to the 
Abbey of Flexley, "the tithe of all his Chestnuts in the Forest of 
Dean." See four letters on the Chestnut, read before the Royal Society 
Nov. 1771. 

Note VII. Page 889. 

The Chestnut grows to an immense size in the southern countries of 
Europe. Brydone tells us, that he measured the celebrated Chestnut, 
standing at the foot of Mount ^tna, named Castagno di Cento Cavalli, 
and that he found it to be two hundred and four feet, or sixty-eight 
yards round. In the southern counties of England the tree attains 
great magnitude. At Beechnorth Castle, in Surrey, there are not 
fewer than seventy or eighty Chestnuts, measuring from twelve to 
eighteen and twenty feet in girth. In the park adjoining to the 
garden at Great Cawford in Dorsetshire, are four large Chestnuts, one 



484 



NOTES AND ILLUSTEATIONS. 



of which is thirty-seven feet round, and though shivered and decayed 
by age, still plentifully bearing fruit. — See Gilpin's Forest Scenery, vol. 
i. p. 62. Grose's Antiq. Supl. vol. i. But the largest and most re- 
markable tree of the kind known in England, stands at Tort worth, in 
Gloucestershire, the seat of Lord Ducie. It was known in the reign of 
King John, and also of King Stephen, as a large tree. In the year 
1150, Bradley says, it was styled the great or old Chestnut of Tortworth. 
Marsham calculates its age at eleven hundred years, and its circum- 
ference at forty-six feet and a half. For pretty strong reasons, how- 
ever, some consider this as two trees growing closely together. — See 
Marshall's Rur. Ornament, vol. ii. p. 127. The great Chestnut, which 
stood some years since at Finhaven in Forfarshire, was estimated by 
Dr Walker at more than five hundred years old, and was accounted the 
largest tree in Scotland. The greatest circumference of the trunk was 
forty-five feet ; and Mr Skene of Skene is said to have a table made of 
the wood of this great tree, having upon it an engraved plate, whereon 
its dimensions are accurately recorded. — Nicol's Plant. Kalend. p. 65. 

Note VIII. Page 342. 

This tree is described by Linnaeus as JEsculus (Jiippocastanum) 
floribus Jieptandris. — Spec. Plant. 488. But I cannot help agreeing 
with Miller in his remark, that this great botanist would have acted 
with more judgment had he given the name of ^sculus to the Chestnut, 
which, as we have already seen, is classed under the genus of the Beech, 
to which it bears little affinity, either in its appearance or its character. 
There are no planters, and few writers on trees, who ever think of 
following the Linnsean classification in that particular. 

Note IX. Page 345. 

This is a curious fact, and well deserving the attention of the planter, 
in removing this fine tree. The severest winds, the Sihifragi venti, 
in most parts of this island, are found to blow from the north-west and 
south-west ; therefore, if a Horse-Chestnut be to be exposed to them, 
it should stand quite open^ and not be partially sheltered by other trees. 

There is a remarkable example of this in the park here. There are 
two Horse- Chestnuts upwards of twenty feet high, transplanted at the 
same time, and standing within two hundred yards of each other. 
Both of them were well prepared, in respect to their bark, branches, 
and roots. But the one stands single, with no other tree near it ; while 
the other has the benefit of considerable shelter, by being on the lee-side 
of a large group of other trees. The consequence is, that when the 



SECTION XIV. 



485 



equinoctial gales set in from the stormy quarter, the former being 
struck fairly, is never injured ; whereas the latter, which is caught in 
the eddy formed by the sheltering clump, loses every year some 
part of its top ; so that I shall be forced to replace it by a Beech, an 
Oak, or some other tree of tougher texture. It is almost unnecessary 
to add, tliat although the soil is nearly equal in both situations, the 
tree protected by the clump shoots at least one-third part more in the 
year than its less sheltered neighbour. 

Note X. Page 845. 

The Lime is placed in the class Polyandria monogi/nia, and is thus 
described by an accurate botanist — Tilia EuropcBa, floribus nectaris des- 
titutis,foliis cordatis, ramificationibus venarum suUus villosis. — Smith, 
Flor. Britan., t. ii. p. o7l ; which description Professor Martyn also 
adopts. The varieties are no fewer than five in number. Three other 
American species are mentioned, of which the Bunwood, or broad ■ 
leaved sort, as eulogised by Dr Yule, seems most deserving of cultiva- 
tion in this climate. 

Note XI. Page 846. 

The Lime in Germany, Switzerland, and other European countries, 
rises to immense magnitude. Evelyn has recorded the dimensions of 
several, such as the celebrated Tilia of Zurich, the Linden of Schalouse, 
(forming a bower in which three hundred persons could sit,) and above 
all, the prodigious Tilia of Neustadt, in the duchy of Wiirtemberg, 
from which that city was designated Neustadt an den grossen Linden. 
The circumference of this last was twenty-seven feet four fingers. 
Princes and nobles did honour to the tree, by surrounding it with 
columns, obelisks, and monuments of different kinds, to support its 
wide-spreading arms ; and they inscribed on them their names and 
arms, with the dates of the erections. Coxe, in his travels in Switzer- 
land, mentions one at Morat, ninety feet high, and at least thirty-six 
feet round. It was lopped in 1550, and is now, or was lately standing. 

Miller mentions having measured some Limes in England that girted 
ten yards, at two feet from the ground. Sir Thomas Brown sent to 
Evelyn an account of a great one growing in his time at Depeham in 
Norfolk, that was thirty yards high, sixteen in girth, at a foot and a 
half from the ground ; and at the smallest part of the trunk, six feet 
from the ground, eight yards and a half. After these we need not 
specify any that are to be found in Scotland, although in deep soils 
there they come to great timber. — See Evelyn's Silva, vol. ii. p. 196. 



486 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Also Miller in voc. Tilia — Edit. Marty n ; and Coxe*s Switzerland^ vol. 
ii. p. 64. 

Note XII. Page 847. 

The most complete experiment, made at this plac3, was on a tree 
of about twenty- five feet high, standing on the site of what is now the 
lake, which, as it required excavation, implied the removal of the tree. 
The soil was a rich loam, of about twelve inches deep, with a substra- 
tum of yellow clay, stiff, impenetrable, and tenacious of moisture. 
Five or six years after it had been injudiciously transplanted to this 
situation, the tree was found to make little or no progress. It rooted 
ill. Its leaves were small, and of a pale yellowish green ; and moss 
began to grow upon the stem. In this unhealthy state, a quantity of 
good light mould was laid round the tree, as described in the text, and 
to the depth of about ten inches, into which new roots immediately 
struck from the stem. Next year, nearly as much more fresh mould 
was added. By the third year, to my great satisfaction, I found that 
the tree began to show symptoms of renovation. The leaf appeared of 
a deeper green colour ; and by the fourth year it spread to the ordi- 
nary dimensions, accompanied with the healthiest and most vigorous 
shoots. 

When the excavation was in progress for the bed of the lake, I was 
anxious to see what had become of the first set of roots ; and I again 
took up the tree for transplantation. The roots appeared ill-coloured 
and scraggy, having thrown out few or no fibres ; and some of them, 
I perceived, had decayed altogether ; so that it was plain that by cut- 
ting away a great part of the first set, the tree could sustain no injury, 
as they ministered very little to its support. That was done accor- 
dingly. The tree was then removed to a different soil, both deep and 
dry, where it immediately succeeded. 

It is deserving of notice, that the Lime is not the only tree on which 
the operation of "earthing up " may be successfull}^ performed. I have 
done the same with the Ash, when of great magnitude ; but with this 
difference in the result, that no fresh roots were thrown out from the 
stem. Those nearest the surface immediately pushed upwards into the 
fresh mould, and the numberless fibres which they sent out, seemed to 
give renewed life and health to the tree during the very first season. I 
entertain no doubt but that the Sycamore would display like properties 
under similar circumstances. 

On another occasion, I met with an instance of the strong tendency 
possessed by the Ash to push its roots upwards in search of food, that 
surprised me. Within five or six yards of a row of old trees of this 



SECTION XIV. 



487 



species, a heap of compost, consisting of heavy loam, peat earth, and 
about one sixth part of lime, happened to be made np. It was about 
forty feet long, six broad, and three or four in thickness. Instead of lying 
the usual time to rot — namely, a twelvemonth — it was neglected for 
about six years before we thought of removing it. On attempting to 
do so, the workmen were struck with the difficulty which they found 
in penetrating the heap with their spades ; when it was discovered, that 
the roots of these trees, having probably exhausted the pabulum within 
their reach, darted greedily into the compost, and soon filled it with 
their fibres, like the closest piece of net-work. They had likewise 
so completely absorbed the moisture of the heap, that it nearly resembled 
a mass of sand. It was noticed, moreover, that the trees, but especially 
the two that were next the compost, had shown surprising vigour 
within the two last years. 

It would probably be wrong, in the first mentioned case of the Lime, 
to assert that the roots nearest the surface did not push upwards, like 
those of the Ash, and penetrate into the superinduced stratum of earth. 
From what we know of the properties of the Lime, and the facility of 
propagating it by layers, it would be unreasonable to think so. The 
striking circumstance, however, of a set of roots entirely new being 
acquired, quite satisfied me that the extraordinary improvement made 
upon the growth of this tree was occasioned mainly by that efibrt of 
nature. 

Note XIII. Page 850. 

The wild Pine, or Scotch Fir, is placed by Linnseus in the class 
MoncBcia monadelphia. Sir James E. Smith thus describes it — Pinus 
silvestris, foliis geminis rigidis, strohilis junioribus peduncidatis recurvis, 
antherarim crista exigud. — Flor. Britan. t. iii. p. 1031. But it is 
singular, considering the great utility and importance of the tree, that 
he passes it over in so slight a way. While we find in his work many 
instances in which six or eight, or more varieties of some plants of little 
use are elaborately described, yet not one variety of the Pinus silvestris 
is given. Accordingly Mr Lambert, one of the vice-presidents of the 
Linnaean Society, in the year 1803, with a laudable desire to supply 
the omissions of foregoing writers, published a valuable treatise on the 
genus Pinus, together with a collection of facts respecting the culture 
and uses of three-and-thirty species, or at least varieties. But Mr Don 
of Forfar has done more to discriminate the varieties most useful to the 
planter, than any other given inquirer on the subject. 



488 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Note XIV. Page 351. 

Whitaker, in his History of Manchester, has examined this point 
with great learning and ingenuity. He shows, in the first place, that 
there are no fewer than three original words in the ancient language of 
Britain, used in Caledonia, Wales, and Ireland, respectively signifying 
the Fir tree or wild Pine ; whereas the names of the Spruce Fir and 
the Beech are obviously of Roman derivation. Secondly, he shows that 
the Scotch Fir is found in the Maucunan, and such other ancient 
mosses as are demonstrably prior to the conquest of the country by the 
Romans, also in others far beyond the limits of the Roman province ; 
moreover, that numerous specimens of the tree have been dug up, by 
himself and others, in mosses lying several yards deep under the 
Roman causeways, and especially in the moss of Failsworth. All this 
incontestably demonstrates the structure of the road to have been pos- 
terior to the formation of the moss, and by consequence to the existence 
of the trees buried in it. See p. 300, et seq. 

Note XV. Page 351. 

Notwithstanding what the learned Lambert has so elaborately 
written on the genus Pinus, and what a judicious planter of the last 
century, the Earl of Haddington, has observed of the existence of 
varieties of the tree, yet it is to Mr George Don, nurseryman at Forfar, 
that we owe the best practical information on the subject. After care- 
fully examining the Scotch Fir, under the most favourable circum- 
stances, and arrived at full maturity, he has satisfactorily made out 
that it has four principal varieties. 

1st, The common Fir, having a pyramidical head, the leaves margin- 
ated of a dark green colour, and but little glaucous underneath ; the 
cones considerably elongated and tapering ; the bark extremely rugged. 
This species is comparatively short-lived, and soon becomes stunted in 
its appearance. This is altogether a short-lived and inferior tree. 

2dly, The horizontal or Spreading Fir, having a spreading head, with 
branches coming out in a horizontal direction from the stem, and then 
tending downwards; leaves serrulated, broader than those of the 
pyramidical species, in colour lighter and more glaucous, and the bark 
less rugged ; the cones also thicker and smoother, and of a less tapering 
form. The wood of this species is far more valuable than that of the 
tree first described. It is likewise a freer grower and a much hardier 
plant. 

3dly, Another distinct variety, having, like the first, a pyramidical 



SECTION XIV. 



489 



head. Its leaves are of a much lighter colour than those of the last, 
and approaching almost to a silvery tint. But it differs remarkably in 
its cones from both the foregoing, having the appearance of being beset 
with blunt prickles and bent backwards. The leaves are serrulated, 
which distinguishes it from the first kind. This variety is also a good 
tree, and is more common than the second or horizontal sort. 

4thly, Another variety, of which the leaves are curled or rather 
twisted and much shorter. This kind seems more rare than valuable, 
and somewhat resembling Mr Landels' Pinus hanskiana. 

It seems possible that a striking species, found by Thunberg in 
Japan, may be the above mentioned spreading or horizontal sort. No. 2. 
This, however, is contrary to the opinion of Strabo, who says that the 
Fir (ikdrri) is wholly a European plant, and is never found in Upper or 
Eastern Asia. — See Strab. Geog. lib. xi. p. 510. But that in some 
measure depends on what w^e are to understand by the word lXar>j, the 
term used by Strabo, which the Romans rendered by Abies, and we 
translate Fir. Possibly something of the same confusion anciently pre- 
vailed respecting ^r/Vus and skdrvi as between Pinus and Abies, as we 
now botanically call them, 

Mr Don believes, and with great probability, that the noble forests 
of Pine which once abounded in Britain, and still partially exist in the 
Highlands, of which the trees attained a great size, consisted mostly of 
the horizontal or spreading species, — and of the pyramidical kind 
which stands third in the list. He collected the seeds of all these 
varieties, particularly of the two that are most valuable, and sowed 
them in his grounds at Forfar, with the view of raising the latter 
extensively, and supplying planters with the produce. Thus he hoped 
that the character of the Scotch Fir would be retrieved, and our native 
woods gradually restored. Were a reform in the nursery business to 
be effected by such meritorious efforts, Mr Don would be eminently 
entitled to the thanks of the public. It is said by Nicol, in his 
Planter's Calendar, that these seeds, with their history, were laid before 
the Highland Society ; but what encouragement was given to this 
ingenious inquirer we are not informed. For Mr Don's ingenious paper, 
see Mem. Caledon. Horticul. Soc. vol. i. p. 121. 

Note XVI. Page 353. 

See Dr. Smith's Essay in the first vol. of the Prize Essays of the High- 
land Society. — A fine frigate, of about eight hundred tons burden, was 
built for the navy in 1798, of the Duke of Athole's Fir wood, and 
named " The Glenmore," from the district where the trees grew. The 



490 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



whole timber of the vessel was of this species, except the masts ; and, 
by the most competent judges, it was esteemed of a more close and com- 
pact quality than foreign fir. 

Note XVII. Page 858. 

There is reason to think that the Pine the best calculated to withstand 
the sea-breeze, is the Pinus maritima. The extraordinary success 
which has attended the cultivation of it on the coasts of France should 
operate as a powerful recommendation to form plantations of it in this 
country, as our woods in such situations have usually failed. It seems 
not only capable of resisting the storm, but of sheltering other trees 
planted within the influence of the saline vapour ; and it is said to 
flourish in pure quartzose sand, which is, in general, completely sterile. 
The botanical description is P. maritima^ foUis geminis tenuissimis ; 
strobilis ovato-conicis, glaherrimis, solitariis, pedunadatis. — See Lambert, 
t. 4, 5. It seems to be, as yet, a rare plant in Britain, as the only 
specimen of it known to Mr Lambert grew at Sion House. 

Next in value, for such exposures, seems to be the Pinaster or Cluster 
Pine (P. pinaster,) a tree better known in England than the former, 
where it is said to bear the sea-storm better than any yet tried. The 
late Lord Galloway had the merit of introducing this tree, for the pur- 
pose in question, into Scottish plantations. He tried it some years 
since, pretty extensively, in his woods on the coasts of Galloway and 
Ayrshire, in which it is planted close by the beach, and where it is now 
seen to grow with extraordinary vigour in the face of the Atlantic. 

The Pinaster, which is the most beautiful of all the Pine family, 
grows but slowly at first, and on that account may, for a while, dis- 
appoint the expectation of the planter ; but, after a few years, it will 
shoot with luxuriance. On the Capes of Virginia there are seen large 
trees of this sort growing, and so near the sea that the roots are often 
observed at high water-mark. The Pinaster grows singularly well on 
on the western coasts of France ; and it is peculiarly adapted to the 
eastern coasts of Scotland. 

The next Pine on the list, and by far the most valuable of the above 
in respect to wood, is the Red Pine of Canada (P. rubra, vel resinosa.) 
From the high geographical range of this Pine, it is well adapted to 
associate with the P. sihestris in this country. Mackenzie found it in 
Canada, beyond Lake Superior. The timber is excellent, and most 
durable. It attains the height of eighty feet ; and planks of it, of forty 
feet long, are often imported into all parts of Britain. Like the P. 



SECTION XIV. 



491 



silvestris, it affords an inferior timber on a damp and unsuitable soil. — 
See Mem. Caledon. Horticul. Soc, v. ii. p. 367. 

Note XVIII. Page 861. 

The Wild Cherry, or Guigne, is classed, in the Linnaean system, in 
the order Icosandria Monyginia^ and in the Plum family. It is thus 
described by the great naturalist — Prunus Cerasus, umhellis siibsessilibus 
foliis^ ovato-lanceolatis, conduplicatis glabris. — Spec. Plant. 679. 

Note XIX. Page 862. 

The Larch is thus described by Botanists — Pinus Larix^ foUis, fas- 
ciculatis ohtusis. — Lin. Spec. Plant. 1420. It is of considerable impor- 
tance to the planter to distinguish between the different kinds of this 
tree, so as that they may be applied to the different soils and climates 
in which they are calculated to succeed. The most useful are the fol- 
lowing : — 

1st. — The White or Common Larch, (^Larix pyramidalis.^ — This was 
first introduced into Scotland by that distinguished and ingenious 
philanthropist. Lord Kames, about the year 1734, after it had been 
known something more than a century in England. I heard himself 
mention the circumstance many years ago ; but I have forgotten from 
what quarter he said he had procured the plants. Soon after, the 
Duke of Athole (grandfather to the present Duke) in 1741 had a few 
planted on the lawn at Dunkeld, which by 1796 had grown to eighty-five 
feet high, and ten feet in circumference at three feet from the ground ; 
so that, at present, they must be more than a hundred feet high, and 
nearly sixteen feet in girth. I regret that I did not measure them when 
I had an opportunity, in 1823. 

As the story goes, they were sent down in pots as a present to the 
Duke, from England, being, as it is said, the produce of Alpine seed ; 
and the gardener, conceiving them to be exotics of a very delicate 
description, carefully deposited them in the green-house. In that arti- 
ficial soil and climate the hardy natives of the Alps had nearly died ; 
when, the Duke being absent from home, they were thrown out as 
hopeless rarities, and stuck into the ground not far from the house. 
On this soil, which seems to be a light gravelly loam, they soon 
recovered, to the surprise of the gardener, and shot forth in a style that 
astonished every one who beheld them. What the original number 
was I know not ; but I remarked three in particular, which were 
noble trees indeed, when I visited the place. 



492 



NOTES AND ILLUSTEATIONS. 



The different kinds of Larch may be most readily distinguished 
by their cones, (stroMli.) — In the White sort they are oval, and 
rather better than an inch long. The scales are notched and open, 
and bent a little backwards at the margin. Independently of the 
value of the timber, it is v^^ell known that Venice tarpentine is 
obtained from this tree ; and of late years, in this country, that it 
has been found to rival the Oak for the tanning of leather. 

2. The Black Larch, (^Larix pendula,^ a species which is more 
patient of cold than the common sort, and therefore is fitted to the 
more elevated regions of our island, where it should be associated 
with the Scotch Fir in clothing them. This sort is a native of 
Canada, to the northward of the river St Lawrence, in which 
country it attains the height of eighty and a hundred feet. The 
cones are much smaller than those of the common kind, and 
oblong, with their scales incurved in the margin, and not open like 
the scales of the sort last mentioned. In America, its timber is 
more highly valued than that of any other coniferous tree, 
whether for naval or domestic architecture. 

In Forfarshire, we find there are extensive plantations of this 
noble tree, some of which are already from sixty to seventy feet 
in height ; but that a practice prevails, which, as Dr Yule well 
observes, cannot be too strongly reprobated, namely, that of endea- 
vouring to propagate it by layers, by means of its lower branches, 
which are extremely pendulous ; a sure method of producing dwarfish 
and inferior plants of this as of every other species of tree. 

3. The Red Larch ( Larix Tenuifolia, or Macrocarpa.) — This kind 
has cones of nearly a spherical shape, and only about half an inch 
long. Being, also, a native of the northern parts of Canada, it is 
of course sufficiently hardy, and, from its geographical position, well 
worth cultivating in this country. It is said to have been long 
since planted at Roseneath and Inverary, by Archibald Duke of 
Argyle. The Marquis of that name, also, as early as the middle 
of the seventeenth century, appears to have sent some samples of 
the seed to Evelyn. — See Silva, vol. i. p. 309. Edit. Hunter. 

Note XX. Page 863. 

Pliny says that Larch wood cannot be ignited any more than 
stone, although it may be destroyed by fire ; Nec alio modo ignis 
vi consimitur qudm lapides. — Hist. Nat. lib. xvi. 10. This seems an 
exaggerated way of putting the case ; but the meaning obviously is, 
that Larch wood, in large masses, is not easily inflamed — which is 



SECTION XIV. 



493 



certainly an advantageous property for many purposes. Vitruvius 
tells us, that the way in which this property of the Larch was dis- 
covered, was that, when Cassar commanded a body of troops near the 
Alps, he had occasion, in enforcing an order for provisions, to attempt 
to set fire to the turret of a small fort in that quarter ; but, being 
composed of great beams of Larch, it resisted his efforts, (intacta 
apparuit.) — Architect, lib. ii. 9. Gilpin, however, seems to believe that 
Hannibal, at a much earlier period than this, in his celebrated pas- 
sage of the Alps, had found the way to make this wood burn with 
great facility ; and he quotes Livy as his authority. But that histo- 
rian merely says, that " the men cut down and lopped immense trees," 
( immanes arhores ; ) of which (trunks and branches together) having 
made a vast pile, they set it on fire, and succeeded in so far heat- 
ing the rocks, that they were dissolved by means of vinegar. — See 
lib. xxii. 88. 

Note XXI. Page 864. 

Most writers affirm that Larch, wood will neither shrink nor warp. 
Mr Pontey, in his useful Treatise on Pruning, says, that no w^ood 
shrinks so little as the Larch of this country, even much less than 
foreign deal. But the evidence he has adduced is by no means so 
satisfactory as it were to be wished. He likewise thinks that it is a 
wood which is very easily seasoned, and that the operation may be per- 
formed in less than three months. But his experiments were made on 
small pieces of wood, and all within doors. — See Forest Pruner, 
pp. 86, 89. Wishing, like this very sensible writer, to speak solely 
from experience, 1 am obliged to say that my experience on this sub- 
ject differs very materially from his. 

Warping and shrinking I consider as pretty nearly the same thing ; 
at least they proceed from the same cause — namely, the aqueous matter 
not being expelled from the wood. In every instance, I have found 
it extremely difficult to season British Larch of from five-and-thirty 
to fifty years' growth, on account of its extraordinary tendency to 
warp. The purposes for which I used it were, most commonly, 
as beams, joists, and rafters for houses, for field-gates, and the like. 
But to stack it up, after being sawn out, was impossible, as it was 
found incapable of supporting its own weight, in pieces of only a few 
feet in length. Even lying flat in single pieces it warped ; in both 
cases forming segments of circles of the strangest sort. The only 
remedy appeared to be, to immerse it in water ; in which, after lying 
for some time, the tendency to warp seemed to go off, and it became 
more susceptible of exsiccation. To such a height did warping on such 



494 



NOTES AND ILLUSTEATIONS. 



occasions jjroceed, that, in the case of gates, after the ordinary season- 
ing given to Scotch Mr had been bestowed on the wood, I have been 
obliged, after some time, to have the article taken to pieces and worked 
up again. 

Note XXII. Page 865. 

It is impossible to view those superb trees belonging to the Duke of 
Athole, without being impressed with the belief, either that the Larches 
now planted are altogether of a different species, or that the tree has 
wonderfully degenerated since its introduction into Scotland. It may 
be very true, as Gilpin states, that the Larch is on a much more mag- 
nificent scale in its native climate than in this island. But it is not 
necessary to have crossed the Simplon to discover that it is by no 
means the superior size of the Alpine trees, (taking those at Dunkeld as 
the standard,) but the utter discrepancy between them and ours in point 
of character and appearance, that so forcibly strikes us. Since these 
noble trees were planted, is now eighty-five years. But, if we compare 
them with Larches planted in other parts of the kingdom, only twenty 
or five-and-twenty years later, (which last should still be great timber,) 
and from British seed, shall we discern, in the latter, any of the same 
striking and picturesque properties ? I cannot account for our being 
obliged to reply in the negative. But I earnestly recommend it to 
those who feel interested in the character of the British Larch, and 
especially to our nurserymen, to have frequent recourse to the Alps for 
their seed. 

It would be worth while that some careful person should examine 
such plantations at Dunkeld, executed half a century since, as can 
be ascertained to have been raised from the seed of the great trees in 
question. But there is no trusting to gardeners or ordinary travellers. 

So much for the different appearance of the Larch, since it was first 
known to us. As to its comparative utility, I believe we shall find 
that all our inquiries lead to the same practical result, that the timber 
which we raise in Britain has fully as much degenerated as the beauty 
of the tree. It may be remarked, that the wonders anciently related 
of the Larch are nothing greater or more incredible than the wonders 
related in modern times ; and, as we can for the most part verify the 
latter by facts, we have the less reason to doubt the former. 

The qualities in which British Larch-wood seems chiefly deficient, 
are density and resinousness, when compared with that of the Alps. 
Though British Larch is useful for many important purposes, I have 
no idea, for example, that such a covering for houses could be made of 
it as is constructed in Switzerland, which by the exudation of the 



SECTION XIV. 



495 



resin, would soon varnish over the whole surface, and render it rain- 
proof. Neither do I believe that this wood would so improve in hard- 
ness, as to be almost impenetrable by edge-tools, after being sunk in the 
sea for some centuries ; as is proved to be the case at Venice and else- 
where, and is attested by Witzen, Evelyn, and many others. Further, 
I have no conception that the eminent painters of the present day could 
make such tablets of British Larch, instead of canvass for their pictures, 
as Raphael and Urbino certainly used, which would last three hundred 
years, and without warping or shrinking. I say again, let us frequent- 
ly go to the Alps for our seed. 

Note XXIII. Page 366. 

I may say with Cicero, on a different occasion. Me autem, una cum 
Socrate et Platone, errare patiantur. The supposed extraordinary beauty 
of the Larch is so popular an opinion, that he who presumes to dissent 
from it, is pretty sure to be left in the minority. " The Larch (says 

Marshall) has a particularly elegant appearance It is in good esteem 

as an ornamental.^'' Rur. Ornament, vol. ii. p. 249. " The Larch (says 
another modern writer on planting) is a timher-tree of great heaut?/, 
magnitude, and value. Those of the largest size in this country, when 
standing detached, and some others of smaller size, are certainly MgTily 
ornamental^ — Nicol's Plant. Kalend. p. 92. Dr Anderson says, that 
the Larch is known to be "one of the quickest growing trees, 
remarkable hardy, and extremely heautifuV — Essays on Agriculture, &c. 
vol. iii. But let us hear the Rev. G. J. Hamilton, author of the best 
practical treatise we have, an " Essay on Woods and Plantations." It 
deservedly gained the premium lately held out by the Highland 
Society, and contains more sound information, and in a narrower com- 
pass, than perhaps any other tract existing on the subject. " The 
Larch (says he) is heyond comparison the quickest grower, and the most 
elegant and mludble of all the other species of trees reared in Scotland'* 
— Trans. High. Soc. of Scot. vol. v. p. 278. He means, of course, to say 
" the most elegant of any species of trees." On all which opinions, I 
shall merely observe De gustibus non est disputandum ; which old adage 
being properly translated imports, that " there is no calling in question 
the likings or dislikings of any man." It is by a popular abuse of 
words only, that it can be supposed in any shape to refer to taste^ 
(figuratively speaking,) which, as a distinct principle, is clearly fixed by 
a standard, and is independent of fashion or caprice. 



496 



NOTES AND ILLUSTKATIONS. 



Note XXIV. Page 366. 

I mean, however, as single trees, or in groups formed of themselves 
only ; for there is scarcely another tree that will harmonise with them. 
To such a style of scattering the Larch there is one objection, which 
cannot easily be surmounted ; and that is, that the Larch, like the 
Beech, does not well resist the winds, and, in open exposures, bends its 
head from them in a most unsightly manner. The only remedy is to 
have it straighted by means of a rope, twice a-year after being remov- 
ed ; and by persisting in this practice, for three or four years, you will 
prevent your trees from leaning from the weather side ; but you will 
give them in some sort the form of a bow, so that a perpendicular let 
fall from the top to the bottom, will touch both points. Probably of 
two evils this is choosing the lesser. 

Note XXV. Page 3C7. 

Sir James E. Smith thus describes the Birch, which is in the class 
Moncecia tetrandria of Linnaeus — Betula alba, foUis ovatis, acutis, 
serratis, glahriusculis. — Flor. Britan. t. iii. p. 1012. Of the white 
or common Birch, the weeping sort, or that which is most pendulous, is 
generally supposed to be a variety. On an accurate inspection, perhaps 
all Birches, at a full age, may be found more or less to merit the epithet. 

Besides the white, I believe there is another indigenous species, 
namely, the Dwarf Birch {Betula nana^ — a well-known plant, also in 
Sweden and Lapland, and which Lightfoot has clearly ascertained to 
belong to Scotland. But it is merely a shrub, or a sort of underwood, 
never rising above three or four feet high. The seed of it furnishes food 
for the ptarmigan or white partridge, {Tetrao lagopus,) so well known as 
an important article of subsistence to the natives of the polar districts. 

The 1st American kind mentioned in the text, is the mahogany 
Birch, {Betula lenta,) and is celebrated by Michaux and Dr Yule as a 
valuable tree, and growing more freely in the swamps of Sweden and 
Norway, as well as in Canada, than in the more genial climate of 
Britain. It rises to the height of seventy feet and upwards in America, 
and produces a most valuable and beautiful wood, for the purposes of 
the joiner. Its leaves are said to afford an agreeable and well-flavoured 
diluent, superior to the generality of tea. 

2. The yellow Birch {Betula luted) grows to a great height in the 
northern states, and in Nova Scotia ; but its timber is represented as 
inferior to that of the mahogany species. 

3. The black Birch {Betula nigra) is also a stately tree, and a 



kSECTION XIV. 



497 



wonderfully rapid grower, even in Britain. From tlie 1 2th vol. of the 
Transactions of the Society of Arts, we learn that it has been known to 
grow to the extraordinary height of five-and-forty feet in nineteen 
years. 

Note XXVI. Page 870. 

Of pruning and training " for picturesque effect," no one will call in 
question Mr Pontey's judgment, who has seen his late useful work on 
laying out grounds, entitled, " The Rural Improver." From his 
former treatise, however, professedly on pruning, named " The Forest 
Pruner," some doubt might have been entertained on the subject ; and 
especially from the frontispiece, where a representation is given of what 
is called " the Woburn Beech," as a lawn tree properly pruned in the 
Duke of Bedford's park. That the judicious author meant it as a model 
of general pruning we cannot believe ; nor that the unsightly form 
thus given to the tree, was for any other purpose than that of producing 
the greatest possible profit ; which, however, there seems considerable 
doubt if it would produce. Yet no remark is made by Mr Pontey on 
the shocking violation of every rule of taste and law of nature which 
is visible in the disfiguring of the tree. Had the elegant Gilpin, with 
his picturesque ideas, ever beheld this enormous sweeping-brush, (seventy- 
two feet in height, and pruned bare to fifty feet in the stem, without a 
branch,) he assuredly would have started with horror at such a sight. 

But this memorable example of profitable pruning, unexplained and 
unaccounted for as it stands, has not been without its ill eff'ects on some 
of the unscientific among his readers. I knew a worthy nobleman, 
now deceased, a man of competent intelligence on other subjects, who, 
with the view of following out, as he imagined, the principles of Mr 
Pontey^ of whom he was justly an admirer, actually pruned up every 
lawn tree about his very splendid and well- wooded place, on the model 
of the Woburn Beech ! ! ! — a species of destruction which two hundred 
years to come will not repair to his posterity. 



2l 



APPENDIX. 



REPORT of a Committee of the Highland Society of 
Scotland, appointed to inspect the operations of Sir Henry 
Steuart of Allanton, Baronet, in transplanting large trees 
and underwood, and to report to the Society thereupon. 

At the general meeting of the Society, on 8th January 1823, a letter 
was read from Sir Henry Steuart of Allanton, Baii;., stating his having 
for several years practised extensively and successfully on his estate, 
the operation of transplanting large trees and underwood, without 
mutilating their tops, or in any way injuring their appearance, and 
requesting that the Society would appoint a committee to inspect his 
operations. The Society accordingly named the following committee of 
its members for that purpose : — 

The Right Honourable Lord Belhaven. 
The Honourable Lord Succoth. 
Sir Walter Scott, Bart. 

George Cranstoun, Esq., (now Lord Corehouse.) 
Alexander Young, Esq. of Harburn. 
G. Laing Meason, Esq. of Lindertis. 
Lieutenant- General Graham Stirling of Duchray. 
G. Hamilton Dundas, Esq. of Duddingston, 

Dr Robert Graham, Professor of Botany in the University of Edin- 
burgh. 

Dr Andrew Coventry, Professor of Agriculture. 

Of which committee Lord Belhaven, or, in his absence, Alexander 
Young, Esq., was named Convener. 



500 



APPENDIX. 



The following members of the committee assembled at AUanton 
House, on the 18th September 1823, viz. — 

Lord Belhaven. 
Lord Succoth. 
Lord Corehouse. 
Sir Walter Scott, Bart. 
Alexander Young, Esq. 

The committee had also communicated to them in writing, the 
opinions of Gilbert Laing Meason, Esq., General Graham Stirling, and 
Mr Hamilton Dundas, who could not attend, but who had previously 
examined the transplanting operations at Allanton House, during the 
planting season. And the committee, having afterwards more numer- 
ously met in Edinburgh, they agreed to the following report. 

In order to render the report, which we are about to make, more 
distinct and intelligible to the Society, it will be necessary to give some 
idea of the soil and climate of the park or lawn at Allanton House, 
which has received most of its striking decorations by means of the 
transplanting system, (the present object of our investigation,) and under 
the direction of the proprietor's acknowledged accuracy of taste. 

This park consists, as we were informed, of more than a hundred 
acres of sheep pasture, exclusive of the large external plantations, or 
bounding lines of wood, that surround the place. It is situated in 
rather a high country, being more than four hundred feet above the 
level of the sea, (according to the late canal surveys,) and nearly three 
hundred above Edinburgh. The soil is extremely various, consisting of 
strong clay, deep loam, and light gravelly soil. Peat-moss also, for 
composts, is to be had in abundance near at hand ; so that a better 
subject could scarcely have been found for making experiments on 
forest trees. What succeeded here, it is probable, would not fail in 
more favourable situations ; and the science of the experimentalist 
would thus suffer no reproach for owing too much of its success to the 
advantages of nature.* 

The surface of these grounds is very irregular and diversified, well 
cultivated, and beautifully dressed throughout. It inclines, for the 
most part, to the west and south-west, (usually the most stormy points 
in this Island,) and, by consequence, the exposure to the winds is very 

* This observation is introduced at the particular desire of Sir Henry 
Steuart. 



APPENDIX. 



501 



considerable. This we consider as an additional advantage ; as what- 
ever experiments were made, the transplanted trees would thereby be 
put to a severe trial. 

About the mansion house there is not much timber of ancient stand- 
ing. The entire number of old trees may not exceed between sixty and 
seventy, but they are happily dispersed over the surface. To these have 
been added by the owner a vast number of single and scattered trees, to 
the amount, as we were informed, of between six and seven hundred ; 
which, with various enclosed clumps, or masses of different sorts, all 
transplanted, give to the whole a rich and woody appearance. But 
from the style in which the removed are mixed and massed up with 
the older trees, the effect produced is extremely striking, especially 
when viewed from any commanding eminence. 

In the park there is also a piece of water of considerable extent, and 
of very various outline, which shows the transplanted woods to great 
advantage. The grounds were originally laid out by Mr White, the 
well-known landscape gardener ; but Sir Henry seems largely to have 
superadded his own improvements, and in the management of both the 
woods and the water to have profited by the principles of Mr Price. 

In following out the instructions of the Society, to investigate the 
improvements made in the art of transplanting at this place, the object 
of our inquiry naturally divides itself into three parts : first, to examine 
the single and scattered trees, and such as stand in detached groups on 
the open lawn ; secondly, such as form enclosed clumps, or masses of 
some magnitude ; and thirdly, to discover how far the art is applicable 
to general purposes of utility or ornament. 

First, As to single trees, and groups on the open lawn. Of this 
description, in every part of the place, we found the Oak, Ash, Witch 
or Scotch Elm, Beech, Sycamore, Lime, Horse-chestnut, Larch, and 
Scotch Fir ; all of which, having been at one time or other the subjects 
of transplantation, as we ascertained by accurate examination, are 
growing with extraordinary vigour and luxuriance, and shooting from 
six to eighteen inches yearly, in the openest exposures. Some Sycamores, 
Limes, and Oaks, we particularly noticed, of which the shoots might 
measure more than two and a half feet, in similar exposures. This we 
consider as probably unexampled in any part of the kingdom. 

These single trees are of various sizes. Those transplanted some 
years since are from thirty to forty feet high, or more ; the girth of 
the largest being from five feet three, to five feet eight inches, at a foot 
and a half from the ground. Sir Henry acquainted us, that " he was 
by no means ambitious to remove the largest possible trees, but to attain 
greatest possible success in those which he did remove. In respect to 



502 



APPENDIX. 



size, (he added,) if his principles were only followed out, that was a 
mere matter of expenditure ; because one tree could be removed just as 
well as another, provided that the owner did not grudge the cost^ To 
the praise, then, of the most perfect success we consider his exertions as 
fully entitled. 

Our attention was next turned to some single trees of the Sycamore, 
Horse-chestnut, and Beech species, which had been transplanted dur- 
ing the first week of April in the present year, so that they had stood 
about six months in the ground at the time of our inspection. The 
height, which, as we were informed, had been accurately taken at the 
time of their removal, is variously from twenty-eight to thirty-three 
feet, and the girth, which we caused to be measured by two of Sir 
Henry's servants, is two and a half and three feet, at eighteen inches 
from the ground. These trees were entirely in leaf, Vv'hen we examined 
them, and their foliage was of a healthy and deep green colour. Their 
branches were quite entire, and they stood firm and erect, without prop 
or support. The only difference that the most accurate eye could dis- 
cover, between these trees and others long since planted, seemed to be, 
that their leaves were somewhat smaller — a distinction which, as we 
observed in other instances, usually disappears after the first, but always 
after the second season. 

In viewing these specimens of an art, of the power of which we had 
formed no adequate conception, the following facts and circumstances 
particularly struck us, respecting the single and detached trees. We 
will, therefore, concisely state them, as worthy of the notice of the 
Society. 

First, the singular beauty and symmetry of the trees ; the uncommon 
girth of their stems in proportion to their height ; and the complete 
formation of their branches and spreading tops. In fact they appear, 
instead of " stripling plants " (as Gilpin would have called them,) to be 
fine laum trees in miniature, and not young saplings in their progress to 
that state of perfection. The peculiar and park-like appearance which 
these give to the lawn (so different from what we have observed in other 
instances of removed wood) must, of course, in son\e degree proceed 
from a judicious selection in the planter. But we learned, on inquiry, 
that Sir Henry considers it as mainly owing to a course of previous 
training in pretty open exposures, or in what he appropriately calls his 
"transplanting nurseries," or otherwise, in plantations thinned out for 
the purpose to wide distances. 

The second thing we shall mention is the surprising health and 
vigour of the trees, considering the exposures in which they are placed, 
and the complete and perfect preservation of their branches, not with- 



APPENDIX. 



503 



standing the operation of removal. In all, or most other specimens of 
transplanting, whether in this country or in England, it has been the 
uniform practice of planters to lop and lighten the tops, to prune off 
the side boughs, and often to pollard or decapitate the trees altogether. 
But, according to Sir Henry's improved and skilful method of manag- 
ing the process, the necessity of this unsightly mutilation is completely 
obviated ; as in his trees seldom a twig or a branch appears to decay, 
in consequence of the operation. Thus, the peculiar conformation and 
character of each tree are preserved ; but it is obvious that by pollard- 
ing, or even severe lopping, both would be wholly destroyed. The 
above remarkable fact was clearly proved to us, by viewing trees of 
various sorts, in every stage of their progress, from the first year to the 
tenth and upwards. It would be difficult to discover that the trees 
had not grown from the seed in the situations which they occupy, 
were it not for the ring of dug ground, which we observed round many 
of them, making a space which is usually kept with the hoe for three 
or four years, in order to promote their growth ; and that labour is 
continued until they begin to shoot with freedom . 

The third circumstance which we shall state, and which seemed still 
more surprising to most of us, who had ourselves attempted the art, 
than either of the two above mentioned, is, that no prop or support of 
any hind is ever used at this place, to trees newly planted. So firmly 
are they placed, and so perfectly do they seem prepared to resist the 
elements, that in very few cases was any inclination observable, from 
the west and south-west, which are well known to be the most stormy 
quarters. This due balance of the transplanted tree is much aided by 
Sir Henry's practice, (contrary to the rule generally observed,) of 
reversing the position of the tree in its transplanted state, and turning 
to the south-west, or stormy point, that side where the branches had 
been longest and most luxuriant in the original position, precisely 
because they had shot more towards the north-east, or sheltered aspect. 
It does not appear that the growth of the tree is in the least degree 
retarded by this change, which otherwise produces the effect of balancing 
the tree against the storm, and, by bringing its branches to a regular 
shape, adds to its symmetry. 

The time of our survey not being the planting season, we have to 
regret that no account of this phenomenon, (the absence of props,) so 
clear as we could have wished, was obtained by us. From Sir Henry's 
explanations, however, we gathered, that the firmness or steadiness pro- 
duced, was chiefly owing to the selection of such subjects as had a 
certain weight and strength of stem ; and more especially to a new and 
peculiar method of disposing and securing the roots under ground, at 



504 



APPENDIX. 



the time of removal, attended ^vith such advantage in giving stability to 
the tree, that, when it is placed in its new situation, and before any 
earth has been laid on the roots, a very considerable force may be 
applied, without throwing it down or displacing it. But Sir Henry 
further informed us, that roots of great number and length (sometimes 
to the extent of twelve and fourteen feet of a side) were also employed 
to secure the larger trees, when set out single, in exposed situations. 

Considering the season of the year at which our inspection took 
place, (although unquestionably the best for witnessing the effects of 
this interesting art,) the Society will, of course, not look for any 
account, from our own knowledge, of the mode of execution. We may 
venture, however, to state from what we saw, that the unexampled suc- 
cess with single trees, necessaril}' the most difficult object, must imply 
methods not less new than scientific. 

Respecting the management of this department, we were informed in 
general, that the greatest attention is constantly paid to the previous 
cultivation of the soil, by meliorating and stirring it to the depth of 
eighteen inches or two feet, and to some little distance round the spot' 
on which the tree is to be planted. That for this purpose, no pure 
animal manure is ever used; but solel}- composts of different sorts, made 
up with dung, or a small quantity of lime ; and that better effects are 
found to be produced, towards this primary and grand object, by the 
intermixture of soils of different qualities (for which the amplest 
opportunity is here afforded) than by any other given method. That 
for the rest, new modes have been discovered by experience, of training 
and preparing both the stems and branches of the tree ; for multiplying 
and taking up its roots ; and lastly, for removing it to its new situa- 
tion. But that which has contributed as much as anj'' thing else to the 
success we had witnessed, is a careful and judicious adaptation of each 
particular species to that soil and situation in which it is best calcu- 
lated to succeed. 

Next, as to the Second Branch of our investigation — namely, close or 
enclosed clumps or masses of wood. These are usually intended for the 
purpose of concealing such objects as require concealment — as accom- 
paniments to the water, the approaches, or the like. They appear in 
considerable variety in this park, and are contrasted in a pleasing man- 
ner with the single trees and open groups above described. There is 
one large mass of wood, of about two acres in extent, through which 
the eastern approach to the place passes. That plantation we will 
endeavour shortly to describe, both as showing the taste and skill with 
which the park is laid out, and the general and extensive uses to which 
the art in question may be applied, in similar situations. 



APPENDIX. 



505 



This approach was originally laid out by Mr White, and does credit 
to his professional talents. At one place, it seems, it appeared extremely 
desirable to that artist to mask or conceal the approach from the house 
and adjoining grounds, and it was equally proper, at the same place, to 
conceal the house from them. This desirable object could be effected 
only by means of wood ; and as the ground, for the most part, hung or 
inclined pretty considerably towards the principal objects to be shut 
out from the approach, half a lifetime might elapse ere the desired 
effect could be produced from that quarter, by the ordinary mode of 
planting, as only four Larches, and three Beeches of considerable size, 
then stood upon these two acres of ground. But Sir Henry resolved to 
attain the desired end at once, by means of the transplanting machine, 
and he successfully accomplished it in a single season. Trees of various 
sorts, from twenty-five to thirty feet high, w^ere then first planted as 
standards or grove wood, at the distance of from eighteen to five-and- 
twenty feet, and the intervals were filled up with bushes, or stools of 
copse or underwood, from four to six feet in height, and five and six 
feet asunder. Thus, the appearance of a plantation of considerable 
standing was immediately obtained, and the eye efi'ectually prevented 
from wandering among the stems, and discovering the actual extent of 
the boundary. 

As the approach passes through this mass of wood for about four 
hundred yards, we had an opportunity of viewing it to great advantage. 
The uncommon beauty, luxuriance, and closeness of the wood, together 
with the retired and sequestered appearance of the spot, struck us as 
particularly pleasing, contrasted as it was with the open lawn, which 
we had just before left. Here the standard trees, of course, were seen 
to make freer shoots than those w^hich stood singly upon the open 
ground, and the shoots of the underw^ood greater still. The underwood 
consists of Oak, Witch-Elm, Beech, Birch, Holly, Hazel,'Mountain-Ash, 
Thorn, Chestnut, English and Norway Maple, Common and Canadian 
Birdscherry, and such other plants as are usually found in natural 
woods ; and from the shelter and warmth produced by such a mass of 
plantation, the luxuriance of these plants seemed wonderful — the shoots 
extending, in some instances of the Maple, Elm, and Birdscherry, and 
even of the Oak, to three and four feet in length and upwards. 

This plantation, which has all the natural luxuriance and wild rich- 
ness of a natural copse, intermingled with grove or standard trees, had 
been formed only four years ; and we are confident that no less a space 
than from five-and-twenty to forty years, according to situation and 
climate, could have produced the same effect by the usual process of 
planting and thinning out. 



506 



APPENDIX. 



We proceeded next to examine other plantations or masses of wood, 
consisting of half an acre, a quarter of an acre, and less, in which grove 
and underwood are massed up together in the same manner. We saw, 
at some distance, an island in the lake, which is wooded in this way. 
The ends of the bridge, which is thrown over the water, are likewise 
so wooded. Also sundry promontories or headlands, in order to break 
the water into parts, and give immediate effect to some prominent 
scenery ; an object which they accomplish in a style very picturesque 
and pleasing. 

We will now proceed to the Third head of our investigation — namely, 
to ascertain in how far the art is applicable to general purposes of 
utility or ornament. 

It must be acknowledged, that the art of removing large-sized wood 
has hitherto been very limited in its application. The planting of a 
few pollarded, or at least mutilated trees, in a gentleman's lawn or 
pleasure-grounds, is all that it usually aspires to. In old books on 
planting, we read of princes and nobles who removed individual trees, 
which it required twelve oxen to draw, and the most powerful machinery 
to lift or plant. But these were exertions of mere physical force, un- 
accompanied with skill or science. It seems to have been reserved for 
the present day to establish the art upon fixed principles, and to turn 
it to any thing like practical utility. 

From what has been stated above, it will appear to the Society that, 
on Sir Henry Steuart's system, a lawn may within a few years be 
covered with single trees, and scattered groups of every description ; 
and further, that enclosed masses of wood to any extent, and of such 
magnitude may be easil}'' introduced into it, as will produce immediate 
effect, whether to persons on foot or on horseback, and even from the 
first and second floors of an ordinary mansion house. For agricultural 
purposes, likewise, the art may prove eminently useful in sheltering 
grounds which are dedicated to pasture. To cover mountains with 
wood, to raise extensive forests, or even the broad bounding lines of a 
gentleman's place or park, the art would for obvious reasons be mis- 
applied, and therefore, for those purposes, recourse will always be had 
to the common methods of planting. But we conceive it to be clearly 
made out, from what Sir Henry has done on a limited scale, (and which 
may with the same certainty be applied to the most extensive purposes,) 
that all objects of wooding for picturesque effect, and for making, as it is 
termed, a place, whether on the foreground, or the middle distance of 
the landscape, may he effected at once, or at least within a very short 
period. Thus a man possessing extensive means, and having within a 



APPENDIX. 



507 



reasonable distance the command of a stock of trees fit for removal, 
may, in some sort, create what it used to take a lifetime, and sometimes 
two lives, to obtain — namely, a park richly clothed and sheltered ; and 
thus, the superlative luxury of well-grown woods, which was supposed 
unattainable unless by the slow effects of time, is brought within the 
reach of science and industry. 

In proof of this, we will take the liberty of adducing one other 
example of what we saw at this place, the more particularly, as it is a 
striking evidence of the superiority in every way of transplanting over 
common woods, as the former are managed here. This illustration of 
the fact appeared likewise to us the more satisfactory, that it was given 
in a comparative way, and of which, therefore, we were fully enabled to 
judge. 

At the western entrance gate to the park, two plantations or masses 
of wood present themselves to the view, within about forty yards 
of each other — the one on the right hand, and the other on the left ; 
and they run nearly parallel to the approach or coach-road, for some 
length of way. That on the left-hand side, as Sir Henry informed us, 
had been planted about five-and thirty years since in the ordinary 
manner. Nearly twelve years ago, the Fir trees and Larch had been 
cut away ; and some time after, a certain proportion of the forest trees 
had been cut over, or copsed, in order to improve the closeness of the 
screen at bottom. The plantation on the right-hand side is intended to 
cover the main head of the lake. It was executed with grove trees and 
underwood, in the style above described ; and it was transplanted to its 
present site six years ago. On comparing these two plantations, the 
obvious superiority of the latter over the former was manifest to every 
eye. Its luxuriance, its strength, its closeness, were superior ; and it 
seemed clearly more effective for every purpose of either ornament or 
utility. In this contrast, the triumph of the transplanting art appeared 
complete, and its fitness for the general purposes of shelter or land- 
scape seemed, in our judgment, very satisfactorily established. 

The committee, having thus given their personal evidence to the 
complete success of Sir Henry Steuart's plan, will now proceed, agree- 
ably to the Society's recommendation, to notice the two points specially 
recommended to their observation : — 1st, The number of trees which 
may have decayed after removal ; and, 2dly, the expense of the opera- 
tion. 

On the first point, your committee are enabled to state with con- 
fidence, that the number of trees which decay after having been trans- 
planted, must be very small indeed. They had this point particularly 
in their eye ; and, in traversing the whole of the grounds, they saw 



508 



APPENDIX. 



only one transplanted tree which appeared to have died, the others 
being all, to the number of many hundreds, in uncommon strength and 
vigour — those planted within the year only differing from the others in 
the smallness of their leaves, but exhibiting no symptoms of decay, 
either in bark or twig. The committee further beg to report, that if 
dead trees had been purposely removed out of the way, the operation 
could not, they think, have been so effectually done, but that vestiges 
of it would have been visible. Sir Henry supposes there may, in 
general, be a failure of one in forty ^ or five-and-forty . But doubtless, 
such complete success could not be attained in the first instance, till 
the planter had acquired a great degree of skill and experience, both 
as to the choice of the subjects, and the mode of carrying through 
the operation. 

Upon the expense of the process, by which so pleasing and wonderful 
a change upon the face of nature is effected with so much comparative 
rapidity, the committee are not qualified to speak with precision ; for 
the season at which they visited AUanton House, though the best 
adapted for seeing the effects of the operation, was not suited to the 
witnessing of the operation itself In general, they beg leave to observe, 
that the removal of large trees must be considered as a part of landscape 
gardening, and belonging, of course, rather to the fine arts, than to 
those which have utility only for their object ; and therefore the 
expense must not be weighed so scrupulously, as if a return of actual 
profit were the end to be obtained. Value, no doubt, every proprietor 
acquires, when he converts bare and unsightly grounds into a clothed, 
sheltered, and richly ornamented park. But, excepting in the article of 
shelter, he must expect no more actual return* for his money, than if 
he bought a picture on canvass, instead of creating an original. When 
the difficulty of the task, which had hitherto amounted to an impossi- 
bility, is duly considered, with the extreme beauty of the effects pro- 
duced, it cannot be thought extravagant that the planting of grove and 
copse wood on the two acres already mentioned, should amount (as ap- 
pears from Sir Henry's memoranda) to about £'80 per acre. On the 
contrary, the committee believe, that no visible change on the appear- 
ance of nature, however trivial in comparison, could have been effected 
by the landscape gardener in any other manner, under three times the 
sum. 

* There is another species of " actual return," besides shelter, which does 
not seem to have occuiTed to the committee, and that is, the surprising 
augmentation of the xalue of the pasture, to a considerable extent, proceeduig 
from the manuring and pulverising of the soil round the trees, at the time of 
planting. See Note II. at page 451, ante. 



! 



APPENDIX. 



509 



This is so obvious, that the committee conceive it to be only the 
purpose of the Society to ascertain, whether there is such and so great 
an expense attending the process of transplanting, as to interdict its 
being practised by country gentlemen of ordinary fortune, who are 
neither willing nor able to bestow very large sums merely, or at least 
chiefly, to attain external beauty. In this point of view, the Com- 
mittee are strongly encouraged to hope, that the Transplanting system 
can be adopted, with advantage in most circumstances, and at no extra- 
vagant expense. There are, upon most properties, strips and clumps of 
planting, in the taste which prevailed thirty or forty years ago, which 
have been thinned out, and they now furnish trees, at eighteen or 
twenty feet distance from one another. It is usually desirable to break 
the formality of such clumps or strips, and in such a case, the subjects 
for removal may be selected with advantage, both to the grounds which 
are to be clothed, and to the plantations from which these individual 
trees are to be removed. Many of Sir Henry's subjects have been 
selected from such plantations as we have described. Where such do 
not occur, he proposes to raise nurseries, where trees shall be trained 
for the special purpose of transplanting. But this mode of rearing 
subjects for future removal, your committee do not pretend to report 
upon, as they had not time to examine its advantages and disadvantages. 

They cannot conclude this part of the subject better, than by an ex- 
tract of a letter to their convener, from their experienced colleague, Mr 
Laing Meason, who had an opportunity of witnessing the transplanta- 
tion of several trees at Allanton House, and of forming a calculation as 
to the expense of their removal. 

" I regret very much (says he) that it will not be in my power to 
attend, as one of the committee appointed by the Highland Society, to 
report upon the system and practice of transplanting trees of a large 
size, as adopted by Sir Henry Steuart of Allanton. 

" As I, however, passed some days at Allanton, in the planting season, 
and saw myself the whole process, I can with some confidence state 
my opinion to you and the other members of the committee. It ap- 
pears clear to me, that Sir Henry Steuart is the first person in this 
kingdom who has adopted and practised, for years past, a rational 
system to insure success in this hitherto difficult operation. The 
system appears to be, to disturb the processes of nature in the growth 
of the tree as little as possible, and, when disturbed, to provide an effica- 
cious remedy. It will naturally occur to the members of the committee, 
that it would be quite impossible to move the widely-extended roots of 
a twenty or thirty year old tree, without rupturing many, however 
carefully the earth were moved away ; besides, the labour of following 



510 



APPEIS^DIX. 



out long shoots would be immense. Add to this, that the nourishment 
drawn is almost entirely from the fine fibrous roots. Hence, the first 
operation is to cut off, at a due distance, the long horizontal roots, sup- 
ply fresh mould, and allow, by waiting two or three years, the tree to 
form all around those fine fibrous roots, that are to nourish it in its new 
situation. This, and the actual removal, is all that the tree suffers, in 
being moved to a new situation ; and on this simple system, he seems 
the first who has succeeded in any extraordinary degree. 

" There are many very important considerations to be attended to, 
before that success can be secured, which have escaped others who have 
attempted to transplant trees. One of the leading points is the choice 
of the tree, A tree taken from the interior of a plantation will not 
succeed, nor one of which the branches and spray, as well as the bark 
and stem, are not all properly prepared and in due proportion. 

" Not less important is the care with which the tree, and all its 
newly-formed fibrous roots, must be lifted ; and, again, these roots 
replaced in the new situation as naturally as they were found before the 
tree was removed. I decline entering into a detail on these important 
points, because Sir Henry Steuart will, no doubt, favour the Society with 
a full and comprehensive narrative of his practice. T must, however, 
observe, that although the detail would occupy many pages, yet when 
the operation is performed by his experienced workmen, it appears to a 
bystander perfectly simple and easy to be repeated. 

" I beg to one subject to call the attention of the Committee in a 
more particular manner, because it has been greatly misrepresented ; 
and, unless the public be undeceived, the useful and ornamental prac- 
tice of transplanting large trees never will become general. I allude to 
the expense. For the present, I set aside the consideration of the 
planting large portions of ground with young trees, to produce shelter 
or picturesque eff'ect, which includes the loss of ground, and the 
expense of fencing, for twenty or thirty years. I confine myself to the 
mere expense of transplanting the tree without the above comparison. 

" I attended, in March last, most carefully in the Park at Allanton, 
to the operation of lifting and placing in new situations two trees of 
about thirty or forty years' growth. The following is the result. Ten 
workmen began at six o'clock in the morning to remove the two trees, 
the one twenty-eight feet high, the other thirty-two feet, by actual 
measurement ; girth from thirty to thirty-six inches. The one tree 
was removed nearly a mile, the other about a hundred yards, and the 
whole operation was completed before six o'clock in the evening. The 
wages of the men amounted to los., so that each tree cost 7s. 6d. A 
pair of horses was used in dragging the machine, on which the 



APPENDIX. 



511 



trees were laid. Such was tlie expense of the operation. Now, if a 
comparison be drawn betwixt this expense, and that of planting 
groups of young plants ; enclosing, and keeping up the enclosures for 
five-and-twenty or thirty years ; losing the value of the ground occu- 
pied by the groups or belts, Sir Henry Steuart's system cannot be a 
tenth of the expense of the common method. A few trees, of the 
growth of thirty or forty years, produce at once that effect, for shelter 
or beauty, that would occupy in young planting an acre or two of 
ground. On the consideration of economy, therefore, Sir Henry's system 
is most deserving of praise. But it is wrong to consider the practice of 
transplanting large trees, as confined to mere ornament, in the forma- 
tion of parks and pleasure grounds. 

" I have only farther to request the attention of the committee to the 
progress that such trees have made as have been transplanted some 
years in the park at AUanton. I remarked more particularly the in- 
crease in circumference of the trunks of several of these trees, and the 
generally thriving state and vigorous young shoots of those more 
recently planted. The committee likewise will not pass over the great 
disadvantages that Sir Henry Steuart has to contend against. The soil 
of a great part of this park is most unfavourable for the growth of 
trees. Some parts have a stiff and stubborn soil, others almost a dead 
sand. The district of country is high, and exposed to violent west and 
south-west blasts of wind. 

" I have taken the liberty of giving this outline of Sir Henry 
Steuart's system, and of its utility to you and the other gentlemen of 
the committee, as the result of actual observation, and a mature con- 
sideration of the benefit that may be derived from it. I trust that the 
Highland Society will soon be enabled to make more generally known 
the details of Sir Henry Steuart's practice." So far Mr Laing Meason. 

The process of transplanting is beautifully simple. The trees having 
been well selected, which is a point requiring much skill and judgment, 
(for both its stem and branches must be well prepared to resist the ele- 
ments, and be duly proportioned to each other,) undergoes the opera- 
tion described by Mr Laing Meason, of having its roots cut, and is, by 
the second or third year after, transported to its new situation, by a 
very simple engine, called the transplanting machine. In detailing this 
process, the committee had particular occasion to remark the openness, 
patience, and candour, with which Sir Henry solved every doubt, and 
replied to every question, which the details suggested. And, in general, 
the committee have no hesitation to say, that the operation is attended 
with no difficulty which may not soon be overcome by attention and 
experience. They thought it best, however, not to attempt to describe 



512 



APPENDIX. 



with minuteness that which they had not seen in practice, having little 
doubt, that they may prevail on Sir Henry himself to aflPord these 
details, in the form of an appendix to this report. 

Upon the whole, it is humbly their opinion, that Sir Henry, by 
philosophical attention to the nature of the change to which he was 
about to subject the trees which he has transplanted, has attained, at no 
extravagant expense, the power so long desired of anticipating the slow 
progress of vegetation, and accomplishing, within two or three seasons, 
those desirable changes on the face of nature, which he who plants in 
early youth can, in ordinary cases, only hope to witness in advanced 
Hfe. 

Signed, by order of the Committee, 

Alex. Young. 



HINTS RELATIVE TO PLANTING, 

FOR THE HONOURABLE SIR A. J. C. 
TO PLANT AN ACRE OF GOOD LAND. 

Let the ground be covered with plants of Oak and Ash, two years 
transplanted at least ; — three-fourths of the former, and one-fourth of 
the latter, according to the nature of the ground, and at the distance of 
nine feet from plant to plant. Then fill up the intervals with Scotch 
Firs and Larches, one year transplanted, and equal numbers of each. 
So that, when the whole plantation is finished, the plants shall stand 
about four and a half feet asunder. Thus, there wnll be rather better 
than three thousand on a Scotch acre. 

If the plantation be near the mansion house, or in any other situa- 
tion where ornament is required, a few Sycamores or Planes and Elms, 
English and Scotch, may be interspersed. In such situations also, the 
Lime, Beech, Sweet Chestnut, and Horse Chestnut will make a pleasing 
variety ; and all these extra trees are free growers on good land. The 
Beech, however, will thrive tolerably when the land is very indifferent. 

TO PLANT AN ACRE OF POOR LAND. 

Let the better parts of the ground (especially where it tends to clay,) 
be covered with Oak and Ash, two years transplanted as above, and 
equal numbers of each, at the distance of seven feet from plant to 
plant. Then fill up the intervals with Scotch Firs and Larches, one 



APPEJTDIX. 



513 



year transplanted, equal numbers of each ; so that, when the planta- 
tion is finished, the plants shall stand three and a half feet asunder — 
making between four and five thousand on a Scotch acre. 

Let the worse parts of the ground, which are unable to produce Oak 
and Ash, (I mean particularly where the soil is shallow, dry, and sandy, 
or consists of a mixture of sand and moss or peat,) be covered with 
Birch and Mountain Ash, equal numbers of each. The plants to stand 
seven feet asunder, as above ; and the intervals to be filled with Scotch 
Firs and Larches, as already mentioned. If the ground be damp, the 
Alder may be substituted for the Mountain Ash. 

It is understood that, on either good land or bad, the forest trees 
should, in general, he pitted; but, where the ground spades easily, and 
great care is taken to introduce the plant at the point of the spade, and 
to avoid curling up its roots, slitting may be permitted ; but these con- 
siderations are seldom or never sufficiently attended to, even by work- 
men who esteem themselves experienced in the operation. The Larches 
and Scotch Firs may always be planted by means of the slit. 

It is further to be observed, that the above hints are very general ; 
and, in order to be properly understood, they would require a volume of 
illustration, which is not intended in this place. For example, an 
experienced planter knows that the Oak will not thrive in very light 
thin soils. Even a damp soil is more favourable to that plant than one 
of thin dry sand. And it is ascertained that the Ash will thrive in 
situations which are either too wet or too dry for the Oak. The 
Beech is the only tree that resembles the Ash in this particular ; and 
it will grow on ground too poor, barren, and dry for raising the Ash. 

Further — Of all the plants above-mentioned, the least valuable is the 
Alder ; but it will grow in absolute bog, where no other plant, the 
Willow excepted, will live. No plants will be found to cover veri/ poor, 
thin, light, and mossy land, with so good a prospect of a return to the 
planter, as Mountain Ash and Birch ; because the wood of the latter 
is useful in several trades ; and the bark of both sells for one-half the 
price of Oak bark. 

There are two great objects which every Planter has in view — the 
one is heautt/, and the other utility, or a return in profit for the money 
laid out. As the planting, and particularly the enclosing and draining 
of ground properly for wood, are works of considerable expense, it is 
important that a landowner should not suff'er himself to be misled by 
the interested representations of nurserymen and others, who recom- 
mend various trees of little or no value, in order to get quit of such 
commodities, when they happen to be upon their hands. 

From the experience of more than five-and-thirty years, in the plant- 

2 K 



514 



APPENDIX. 



ing, cutting, and disposing of wood of almost every species known in 
this island, I must declare, that for purposes of utility, and to make a 
return in any degree proportioned to the money laid out, there are no 
trees so proper as the Oah and the Asli. It is a great, although not an 
uncommon error, to imagine that the Oak will not grow except on land 
of a superior quality ; whereas the fact is, that it will grow to tolerable 
copsewood on very exposed situations and in almost any soil, light and 
thin sand excepted. The bark of the Oak (even when nothing higher 
than copsewood can be raised) is found to be more valuable than both 
the wood and the bark of any other tree ; and to all general purposes 
there is no tree so universally applicable as the Ash, — even more so than 
the Oak itself. 

It is therefore probable that the only trees worth planting with the 
view of profit to an estate, are the Oak and the Ash. In regard to beauty 
and ornament, no precise rule can be laid down. I have mentioned 
above the different kinds which, if planted on soils congenial to them, 
will have the best effects in a gentleman's park, and about his place. 

In the foregoing hints, the Fir tribe has been considered merely as 
nurses to more valuable, or at least more permanent, plantations. But 
from the many successful experiments which have lately been made on 
the utility of the Larch, both on account of its wood and its harhy it may 
be doubted whether, on poor and exposed land, any return equally 
great will ever be made, as by planting it with Larch and Scotch Fir 
only, (three fourths of the former and one fourth of the latter) — cutting 
them down completely at the end of fifty or sixty years, and then plant- 
ing the ground anew. On the other hand, however, it may be said of 
permanent woods, or woods consisting wholly of deciduous trees, that 
the oftener they are cut over, the more they will increase, both in value 
and vigour ; whereas, a wood of the Fir species only, being of a tempo- 
rary nature, as soon as it is cut down, it is at an end ; and it seems 
rather uncertain whether, in the exhausted state of the ground after 
the first crop, it will ever rise again so well on being planted for the 
second time. 

The following short injunctions, which are mostly of the negative 
sort, may perhaps be useful to the young planter. Never plant the Oals: 
on a light sandy soil, if of a thin and shallow quality. In such a situa- 
tion it never will become a tree, and seldom rise to the size of a vigor- 
ous bush. Never plant it upon real moss or peat, as it will become 
black at the heart. Never plant the Lime, Sycamore, or Horse-chestnut 
on wet or even loamy land with a clay bottom. All of these trees 
require depth, with a dry subsoil ; but the Oak will thrive surprisingly 
well on very obdurate clay, both above and below. Never plant at all 



APPENDIX. 



515 



without draining the ground completely, by means of open drains if 
requisite — as all trees require a bottom more or less dry, and wet land 
in a plantation is so much waste or unproductive surface. On land 
inclining only to moss or peat, if properly drained, the Ash will grow 
well ; if the soil approach to the nature of a blackish loam, one third 
part of Oak may be added. In a word, Oak and Ash are the staple 
plants for useful woods, just as wheat and oats are staple crops in 
husbandry. Other timber, if raised to a large size, may sell ; but these 
two, even of very small dimensions, will always find a ready market. 

Allanton House, 
IZth July 1816. 



RESUSCITATION OF OLD TEEES. 

"Dear Sir, — Agreeably to my promise, I shall now give you an idea 
of my method of reviving or resuscitating old trees, which has often 
succeeded with myself, and which I have recommended to others ; but 
there is no account given of it in the notes on my treatise on the appli- 
cation of the science of physiology to practical tree-culture, and particu- 
larly in removing large trees, for ornament or use. 

"The decay of old trees, both in England and Scotland, has been a 
subject of general complaint during at least a century ; and it is observed 
with regret, that their place does not promise to be very speedily sup- 
plied by existing woods and plantations. The general causes of the 
decay of trees are twofold. The first proceeds from diseases to which all 
woody plants are subject ; the second from extreme old age, but more 
frequently from their having exliausted the pabulum within their reach. 
The pathology of the vegetable tribe, in this respect, differs materially 
from that of the human species. Among the sons of the forest, as among 
us, there are no vicious efforts made by individuals, by means of disease, 
to shorten life. There are no gourmands nor sensualists, by fatal indul- 
gences and artificial luxuries, to bring on premature old age. The laws 
of nature in trees are allowed fairly to operate, and their existence there- 
fore may be reckoned on, and even prolonged by art, to an indefinite 
period. It has been said that the roots of trees in a favourable soil will 
go abroad in search of their food to a distance from the stem equal to 
the entire height of the tree, taken from the ground ; and wherever 
this is found to hold good, trees will live to a very great age, especially 
in a deep and calcareous soil. 



516 



APPENDIX. 



" Of your two fine old trees at Westqiiarter, in Stirlingsliire, which I 
lately examined, a holly and a double-flowering thorn, I must say that 
they appear to me to have declined chiefly from the latter of the two 
causes above mentioned, namely, their having exhausted the food or 
pabulum in their immediate neighbourhood ; and, in the case of the 
thorn, in some measure from the ground being overstocked with other 
plants, that greatly crowd upon it, even to the exclusion of light and 
air, without which no plant can flourish. As to the holly, it seems 
stunted and hide-bound, and sends out no free shoots at top, such as a 
tree in health, in so fine a soil and climate, ought to do» The terminal 
growths of the thorn, also, have begun to decay ; and if some salutary 
remedy be not speedily adopted, to excite the roots to fresh action, it is 
plain that the evil will ere long extend to the greater branches, and, as 
a necessary consequence, to the trunk itself. 

" The first thing that I should recommend to be done with this noble 
thorn is, to cut away the ivy that now strongly adheres to it. That 
parasitical plant has covered nearly the whole external surface of the 
stem. It already intercepts the kindly influence of the sun and air from 
the bark of the tree, under which the finer vessels of the descending sap 
lie, so that it may be said to prey upon the very vitals of the plant. 
The next object should be, to clear the ground, for a considerable space, 
of overshadowing shrubs and bushes. So venerable a tree, standing 
single, would be the most graceful ornament of the verdant turf that 
surrounded it. 

" The second thing that I would do, would be to dig a trench round the 
tree, not exceeding three and a half or four feet out from the stem ; 
which trench should be five feet broad at least, and as deep as to pene- 
trate through both the soil and subsoil, however deep either may be, 
until you reach the rock, gravel, pure sand, or obdurate clay {Scottice\ 
till) that may lie below. In doing this, the workmen may fearlessly 
cut, through all the roots they meet with, leaving only three or four 
great ones, on the south and south-west sides, to act as cables, in resist- 
ing the severe winds that usually blow from those quarters in every 
part of the island. 

" Next : let whatever parts of the trench that consist of good earth, or 
of earth capable of being easily made so, be thrown aside, and the sand 
or gravel, if any, be wheeled away ; so that you may obtain a depth in 
the trench of two feet or more, if the soil permit, of well-mixed mould. 
For this purpose, let good compost or rich garden mould (of which I saw 
abundance near the spot) be intimately mixed, by twice or three times 
turning, with the better parts of the contents of the trench, adding about 
a third part of good well- rotted dung, so as that a proper chemical action 



ArPENDIX. 



517 



may be excited throughout the mass, and the whole rendered fit for the 
food of plants. This done, let the trench be filled up with such compound 
somewhat higher than the original soil ; and let the space which has 
been left untouched, of four feet out from the stem to the edge of the 
trench, be covered eight or nine inches deej), with the same prepared 
and friable compound, pointing it in with the spade only about three 
inches deep, so as not materially to injure the roots. In order to com- 
plete the process, let all the dead wood be carefully pruned away from 
the branches with a saw, but dressing the extremities afterwards with 
a sharp hedgebill. 

" In the following spring, all moss or other impurity should be scraped 
ofi" the bark, and the entire stem well washed, two or three times during 
the summer season, with soap and water, and a soft brush. 

" By following the above method, which, however elaborate it may 
appear in the description, wall be very easily reduced to practice, I feel 
confident that many fine old trees in gentlemen's parks, that are now 
allowed to decay, might have another century added to their existence ; 
because the extension of fresh pabulum at pleasure to greater limits 
would be a labour well repaid, and attended with little expense, and as 
little difficulty. There are few persons who would not bestow more 
labour than this on a favourite tree ; and there are perhaps fewer who 
will not admit that it might easily be applied to purposes of general uti- 
lity, as well as local ornament. The principles on which this process 
has been instituted are in accordance with the laws of animal as well as 
vegetable physiology, and will be confirmed by practice, if they be 
allowed to govern the process. I have uniformly found that the roots 
where cut through in the opening of the trench, will send forth an im- 
mense body of vigorous ramifications, of from a foot to fifteen inches in 
length, during the first and second months after the operation, with 
thousands of capillary rootlets emanating from them — all which will 
go abroad in search of sap, for renovating the vigour of the tree. In a 
tree of considerable age, such as the two above alluded to at your beauti- 
ful place, it is to be observed that much figure cannot be expected to be 
made, during the first year, in the elongation of its terminal shoots ; and 
for this plain reason, that effects must necessarily be preceded by their 
causes, whether they lie on the surface or otherwise ; but the leaves will 
speedily become larger, and of a deeper green colour, than for some 
years past ; and by the autumn of the second year, it will be admitted 
that the tree is in some sort about to renew its youth. 

" During the early part of the first season, the new mould should be 
allowed to remain quite undisturbed ; but towards the end of the year, 
the gardener or forester may cautiously look in, and he will observe the 



518 



APPENDIX. 



wonderful efforts towards the increase of leaves, and, by consequence, to- 
wards a fresh supply of sap, that the plant will even then have made ; 
and after the second year, the renovating process will appear still more 
striking. 

" These directions apply equally to both the thorn and the holly at 
Westquarter, with this difference, that, in consideration of the far greater 
exposure in which the latter is placed, I should not advise that the 
trench be opened nearer than within five feet of the stem ; also, a greater 
number of large roots, (to act as cables in supporting the tree,) say 
five or six, should be left entire, running across the trench. 

" The month of February or beginning of March, according to the sea- 
son, before the ascending sap begins to stir, would of course be the best 
time to carry into effect the methods of resuscitation above detailed ; 
and as Allanton House is at no great distance, I should have much plea- 
sure in paying you a visit, and directing the execution myself. — ^With 
great esteem I remain, dear Sir Thomas, your most faithful servant. 



" H. Steuart. 



To Admiral Sir T. Livingston, Bart.' 



PKINTED BY WlLLiAM BLACKAVOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH. 





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